Binding Fate
by recondite123
Summary: Natsuki's mother is always forcing her into match making blind dates, with the excuse of how Natsuki's life is on the line if she never finds her other half. AU and OOC.
1. Chapter 1- The Miko

**Vocabulary:**

**Miko: This is a term that is used to describe shrine maiden's in Japan. In Mai-Hime anime, there was an episode where Mai went to help out at the shrine as a "Miko" for a wedding.**

**Sama: this is an honorific term used to in addressing people of higher social status than you, it is a sign of respect.**

**San: This is also another honorific term used to address people.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai hime/Mai Otome, or any of the characters.**

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Chapter one

By S

* * *

There were rumours, that said the Miko of Windbloom Shrine, Viola-sama lived a very long life, possibly since civilisation. There were also rumours suggesting that her old age caused her to have no sense of empathy. Rumours also said she could bring people back from the dead, or grant them an early death. However, these were only rumours, and considering the nature of a rumour, nobody knew if it was true or not.

There was continuous knocking on the shrine's wooden doors, accompanying the thunder claps and loud pouring rain.

The old Miko was expecting a visitor, an old friend. She refused to get up from her comfortable chair and called her maid to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, the guest wasted no time and pushed past the maid, and kneeled before Viola.

"Save her, Viola sama!" the woman cried, her hair wet from the rainstorm, eyes wide with panic. In her arms carried a small body, clothes visibly soaked in dark red, face barely recognisable under the blood. Her muddy shoes and wet clothes formed a small puddle on the wooden floor.

The elderly woman winced, she only had the floors cleaned and polished yesterday.

"Please Miko! Viola-sama! Please save her!" she begged to the wrinkled woman sitting before her."I know you can save her..."

Viola eyed worriedly at the blood covering the child's dark locks. Kneeling down slowly, she placed two shrivelled fingers on the child's wrist.

"Her pulse is faint," she grimaced, "this child does not have long to live. I suggest you give up and go home." She leaned on her crane for support and stood up angrily, "You should not believe what others tell you, Saeko-san! I cannot bring back the dead! You should have gone straight to the hospital!"

Viola knew this would happen eventually, but she didn't think Saeko was stupid enough to visit the shrine instead of going to a hospital. For the past few weeks, the poor lady had been visiting the shrine quite periodically. The other Mikos' noticed that she was often covered by large, poorly disguised bruises under thick layers of clothes. Viola suggested calling the police, but the woman was adamant on praying for some supernatural force to help her husband 'see the light'. It was evident that she finally had the courage to suggest a divorce, with the consequences placed upon her daughter.

Saeko sobbed uncontrollably onto her daughter's body. "N–Natsuki... my poor child, how could he do this to you? To _his own daughter!_" she cried and held her daughter's head delicately between her hands, tears dripping onto the child's face.

Viola eyed the blood dripping onto her once polished floor, annoyed that it probably will take ages to wash off. She was also aware that her stupid friend with the daughter probably won't go home anytime soon.

She pondered if she was feeling sympathy for her friend, or her wooden floor.

Living for so long had a toll on Viola, it was rumoured that she is cold hearted due to the large amount of heart break in her life. But then again, they were only rumours.

"Saeko-san," the Miko sighed, "I can probably save her..." She grimaced at the glimmer of hope on Saeko's face, "but there is a big price to pay and a large gamble at stake."

Viola reasoned it would be fair if she helped her. Saeko proved to be a nice acquaintance to talk to, and she always brought expensive tea leaves during her visits. Despite being begged to, Viola absolutely despises being used. However nobody could have predicted this to happen to her daughter. Viola could only hope that Saeko will be different from the rest.

_Perhaps this is a test from fate_, the Miko mused to herself.

Saeko's eyes widened with hope, "I will pay any amount! Please do your magic."

The miko peered wryly, slightly regretting her impulsive offer.

She sighed. "Then let us hurry."

She gestured to her maid, who quickly went to the back room, returning with a large tin pot covered in strips of yellow paper. Viola walked up the picture of Kami and lit an incense stick. She muttered a prayer to the picture and inserted the stick into the large tin pot. The pot started to glow an eerily shade of blood red, evoking thick fumes to smoke and consume the entire room.

Saeko stared wide eyed, holding tightly to her daughter, not quite believing what she is seeing.

Viola looked at the woman with a solemn expression. "I will need an equal exchange, if your child dies tonight before I cast my 'magic', you will die, and your soul will be cast beyond return. As I have told you, I cannot bring back the dead." Viola said grimly, aware that there might not be any more expensive tea leaves in the future. She raised her walking stick, dipped the end into the blood on the floor, and started circling the two, drawing symbols while dragging the blood around mother and daughter.

"I am willing to do anything for my child..." Saeko replied, holding tenderly onto her child, her gentle hands brushing the long strands of hair behind her daughter's ear. "Natsuki... my poor child... I'm so sorry."

"If your child lives, you will also live." Viola beckoned her maid to close the shrine doors. The maid quickly left the room and closed the doors. The symbols drawn on the ground began to emit bright rays of light, reaching to the ends of the room and outside the windows into the thunderstorm.

"Saeko-san, one part of the price is the gamble of your soul and her life," Viola said, still hoping that the younger woman will change her mind.

Saeko closed her eyes and nodded. "I accept." She held her child closer to her, grimly accepting the chance of death.

"Fine," Viola sighed in resignation.

A rush of wind was produced from the walking stick as she muttered more incantations. The wind surrounded them in bright light and scorching red flames.

The woman on the ground gasped in fright, expecting the fire to burn her child. To her surprise, the fire was slowly being absorbed into her daughter. While the wind and fire slowly dissipated, Saeko noticed that the injuries on her daughter were also disappearing.

The daughter's eyes snapped open, wide and alert. She had stopped bleeding, the blood on her clothes disappeared, and the injury on her head was gone without a scar. Bright emerald eyes glanced up and looked at her tearful mother.

"Natsuki!" Saeko cried while thanking the Gods, her fingers held tightly to her daughter's clothes. Natsuki looked bewildered at the sight of her mother crying. She gently wrapped her small arms around, offering comfort to the crying woman.

The storm outside magically cleared, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping. Bright rays of sunlight entered the shrine, emphasizing the dark red drawn on the ground by the Miko.

The maid came back into the room, gave a look of annoyance at the floor before walking back out again.

Viola sighed, feeling sympathy for the maid; she will have to ask her to clean the wooden floors again.

_At least nobody died this time_, she mused. She walked back to her chair while Saeko continued to cry.

"V-Viola sama, thank you," Saeko hiccupped between her tears.

A grim thought occurred to Saeko, what was the other payment the Miko wanted? What was paid during the equal exchange? Was it really just a gamble?

"Hmm?" Viola replied absentmindedly, still eyeing the dirty floor with contempt.

"What was part of the other payment?" Saeko asked anxiously.

"Oh yes, Saeko-san, there is one thing you must understand," Viola pinched the bridge of her nose, to calm an oncoming headache. "Your daughter's life: I have connected it to her red string of fate. She will live as long as her predestined other half lives."

The woman on the ground paled, realising that she might lose her daughter even after all the trouble. What if Natsuki's predestined other half dies tomorrow? The child is only four years old! How can anybody know their own soul mate at such a young age? Most people spend half of their lives looking for their other half! _This is absurd_, she thought to herself. She had already gambled her soul for her daughter's life!

This was hardly an equal exchange!

"B -but who is her predestined other half? Do you even know? How can I protect my child if I do not know who he is? Or where he is at?! Viola-sama! You promised you would save her!" Saeko screamed hysterically at the Miko. The maid heard the noise and quickly rushed back into the room.

Viola sighed, and signalled her maid to escort the screaming woman out of her shrine.

This was why she hated helping people, humans are always so selfish. She had hoped that Saeko would react differently to the previous people that came for help. They were always 'wanting this' and 'wanting that', never appreciating the things that are already there.

This was why it was always just rumours that surrounded the Miko Viola. Many claim that the Miko never did any magic, only tricks, and the wounded will miraculously come back to health unscathed. This was why the rumours always claim for her to be lacking empathy, as nobody ever properly thanked her for helping.

Unfortunately, just as Viola had predicted, there will no longer be any more expensive tea from Saeko.

In fact, if Saeko ever came back to the shrine, she will find that the Miko never existed. Even if she looked in public and private records, she will never find anything.

After all, the Miko was just a rumour.


	2. Chapter 2- A mother's worry

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai Hime/Mai Otome**

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Chapter two

By S

* * *

Saeko paced around the room anxiously, wondering what went wrong in her perfect life.

She did not know why she felt so troubled. A year ago, she left her useless husband during one stormy night and woke up in her mother's mansion in Fuuka. Her mother was definitely shocked to see her eloped-four-years-ago-daughter sleeping on the couch, with a small girl in her arms.

Thankfully, her mother accepted and doted on Natsuki, but made her promise to never see her abusive husband ever again.

She thought about her perfect life. After a year of hard work, her company, The HIMES Corporation, was currently on par with the top reputable companies in Japan. Her daughter also seemed to like the man she was currently dating.

As she continued the thought of her daughter, she affectionately remembered that her Natsuki finally turned five last week. The child shyly muttered the sweetest words to her, melting her heart on the spot.

"_I love mama. Love mayo." Right after Natsuki received her birthday present._

The memory brought tears to her eyes. She never imagined her daughter would ever tell her that she loved her more than mayonnaise. When Natsuki was a toddler, she couldn't sleep without the substance mixed into her milk formula.

However, she still could not explain this particular unease.

Then the occurred to her – oh yes, it was probably _that._

Tomorrow is Natsuki's first day at Windbloom Elementary school.

Saeko paced even more frantically.

She knew that school was too dangerous for her daughter, she was sure they didn't even hire body guards. In fact, what if her daughter got kidnapped? Goodness, if it wasn't for Tokiha-san's overly eccentric daughter, she would definitely home school her daughter. It probably didn't help either when Yuuki-san's cunning daughter, bribed Natsuki that there will be mayonnaise everyday in the cafeteria. Then the three girls enthusiastically promised each other to go to school together. From then on, Natsuki begged her mother everyday with the most unforgiving pout, assuring that she will not attend just for the unhealthy condiment, but rather for the education that will benefit her in managing the company.

The way of her persuasion, amused and pleased Saeko. It was hard to believe the cunning girl is only five years old. She was somehow able to convince her mother, using another excuse that is more favourable to her mother's ears. This talent will no doubt make her a valuable politician in the future, or a great heiress to The HIMES Corporation. Saeko mused if it was only because mayonnaise was involved.

But then her main concern, what if her baby was kidnapped during school?

Saeko cringed at the thought, mentally making a note to ask Miyu-san to act as a body guard from a distance.

* * *

"Na-chan, say hello to Sugiura-sensei," Saeko affectionately pat the fluffy, dark hair of a timid girl hiding behind her legs. "Do you remember Midori nee-san? She is a teacher now, today is her first day as well!"

"K–konnichiwa, sensei." A quiet voice squeaked from behind Saeko, her small hands visibly clinging onto the business attire of the older woman.

"Hello, Natsuki-chan! Your hair is so short now!" Midori exclaimed as she crouched down to Natsuki's eye level. "Saeko nee-san, your daughter looks more and more like you every time I see her. She is so cute!"

Large emerald eyes, peeked from under the thick lashes and glared. Being terribly self-conscious of her short hair, she did not appreciate sarcastic comments about looking cute.

"Cute indeed," Midori chuckled, "what happened to her long hair? Change of style?" She ruffled the short raven hair of the small girl, who protested and tried to hide behind Saeko's legs.

"Ah, you could say it is, poor Natsuki got her hair stuck on wet paint when we were renovating." Saeko smiled happily, hoping that her daughter will change her mind and instead be home schooled.

However, her cheerful mood did not last long. The two conspirators responsible for bribing her daughter to go to school – arrived in the most untimely manner.

"Natsuki-chan!" screamed an apricot-coloured haired girl, who slammed the car door on her chauffeur fingers and made a bee-line towards Natsuki. She then threw herself onto the unsuspecting girl, both of them collapsing to the ground. "I'm so glad you came! I can't wait to tell Nao!"

Saeko sighed while Midori stood up and greeted the other two parents.

"Mai-chan, you don't have to tell me that Na-chan is here, I heard you screaming all the way from inside my car," the red haired girl drawled sarcastically," and hi, Na-chan."

She helped both of them get up, and all three of them raced to the nearby sandpit.

Saeko sighed once more, feeling her heart break. The three kids were so excited that they didn't even bother greeting her. She turned around and faced Midori with a determined expression.

"Midori, I want you to call me during your break time to tell me how my daughter's morning went for her first day," she demanded.

The teacher winced, replying in a higher pitch than normal. "Oh, Saeko-nee-san, Natsuki will be fine! She will have so much fun – you can't always lock her up in that mansion of yours and scare her with stories of how people will kidnap her!" Midori mentally panicked, aware that calling Saeko three times a day will rack up a huge phone bill.

Saeko glared and folded her arms.

"Okay, okay! I will call you. Now hurry up and go to work." She raised both her arms defensively, attempting to block out the glare. She was silently perplexed by how similar the two glares were between mother and daughter, except one was cute and the other was not.

"Good, then I expect your call in two hours. Make sure you look after her, Midori."

Saeko walked towards her car, pulled out her phone and decided to call Miyu – just in case.

* * *

"N-Natsuki-kun, I love you! Please be my boyfriend!" stammered a scarlet faced, brown haired boy.

The bickering classroom went quiet. Mai dropped her tamago-yaki. Even Midori-sensei was speechless. Nobody else saw Natsuki as a boy, nobody except for Takeda Masashi.

Natsuki was dumbfounded. Being a naturally curious child since birth, she understood how society works.

Or rather, how it was _supposed _to work.

Natsuki was aware that receiving a love confession at the age of five was not normal. She was aware of that much, thanks to the endless romance drama she watched with her grandmother. Natsuki also understood that love was meant to be between a man and a woman – specifically, because her mother said so.

She was also aware, this boy, oh this rude little boy, had mistaken her for a male, just because her hair was cut too short!

Or perhaps, he thought it was funny to make fun of her!

The whole morning, the stuttering boy Takeda had been addressing her as 'Natsuki-kun', even going as far to ask if she would like to accompany him to the boys' toilets. This love confession joke was a step too far.

Not knowing what to say, Natsuki said the only curse word taught by her grandmother Maria. A word she picked up when she heard her Obaa-san yell at her mother.

"You...stupid!" yelled Natsuki as she left her lunch and stormed out of the classroom, in tears, blushing and horribly embarrassed.

_I'm wearing a skirt, why does he think I'm a boy? _She thought miserably as she ran along the corridor.

Mai and Nao gasped at the dirty word, shocked at Natsuki's rare outburst. The girl was normally so timid and polite around people. They both glared at Takeda, promising him pain and chased after Natsuki.

Little do they know, Takeda was being completely serious. His father had always told him in order to be a great swordsman, one must always be honest and clear with their feelings. As long they were honest and true, the recipient will always appreciate them. Thick-skinned and obstinate, he decided he will try again after Natsuki returned.

"Everybody go back to your tables! Takeda-chan, please go play with Yuu-chan. Nobody leave the classroom! Sensei is going to check on Natsuki," Midori Sugiura sighed. She quickly asked the neighbouring classroom teacher to look after her students, and hastily chased after Natsuki.

Midori was already dreading the phone call to Saeko, she had no idea how one child could create so much drama on the first day.

* * *

Natsuki kept running down the corridor, regretting how she didn't listen to her mother. Now she was sure that everybody is going to tease her just because she looked like a boy.

"Natsuki, wait!" Mai and Nao panted as they tried to catch up.

"Leave me alone! I want to – "

Natsuki's sentence was cut off by a searing pain going through her head. She stopped running and grasped her hair, attempting to curb the ache.

Her eyes started watering, the tears dripping down her face. Her heart was erupting into a painful sprint, as if trying to escape her chest. Her knees buckled under the pain and she fell onto the ground.

Mai and Nao stood still, eyes widened with shock.

"Oh my God! Natsuki! Are you okay?!" Midori caught up and saw the child collapsing onto the ground – now unresponsive. "Mai, Nao! Go back to the classroom! I'm taking Natsuki to the nurse's office!"

"Sensei, we'll come with you!"

Having no time to argue, Midori collected Natsuki in her arms and quickly sprinted to the infirmary, with Mai and Nao following closely behind.

* * *

Meanwhile in the classroom, Takeda finally ran out of patience, if Natsuki won't return – then he will go find her.

"Yuu-chan," he said to the boy sitting on the ground, "I'm going to find Natsuki-kun. I have decided that I want to be his bride."

Yuuichi Tate was confused, he wasn't sure what Takeda meant by bride. He made a mental note to ask his mother when he gets home.

Takeda stood up in determination, eyes fixated on the door.

"Hey, wait – "

Just as Takeda was about to run to the door, Yuuichi reached out to grab Takeda to get his attention. As a result, he tripped over Yuuichi's arm and landed head first onto the corner of the nearby table.

_-crash-_

The classroom doors slid open and Midori walked in, looking completely exhausted.

"Okay, children I'm back!"

At the infirmary, Midori called the ambulance and a hysteric mother, so she was definitely not in the best of moods. In fact, she believed her day could not get any worse.

But she was very, very wrong.

"Takeda-chan, what happened?! Wake up! Why are you bleeding so much? Yuuichi stop crying this instance and go sit in the corner! Goodness gracious! Everybody be quiet!"

Midori Sugiura believed that today was the worst day of her life. She was seriously reconsidering her career choices, taking into account how two of her students were sent to the hospital on her first day.

* * *

Saeko sobbed into the bed sheet while holding her daughter's hand. She couldn't believe this happened, she should have never allowed Natsuki to attend school. Natsuki was currently hooked up to an IV drip, with a heart rate monitor beeping continuously behind her.

Mai and Nao were asleep on the sofa, both unwilling to go home.

Saeko glared at the boy in the bed next to her; the boy was asleep, with bandages covering his right cheek. They both temporarily shared a hospital room, as all rooms were full. According to Mai and Nao, this one boy was the one who caused so much stress for her child. Saeko was almost willing to pay extra for the boy to sleep on the floor.

Just a while ago, she found out her daughter is somehow in a coma, supposedly collapsed from stress.

"_Your daughter is in a coma. We don't know why she is in one, but the MRI scans should show something by this evening," the doctor said grimly."We suspect it is stress."_

_Saeko stared incredulously in tears, "How could she suddenly fall into a coma from _stress?!_" she shouted, "She is only five years old and was perfectly fine this morning!" she cried, and impatiently paced around the hospital room, throwing a frantic look at the doctor._

"_We don't know. The MRI scans should be able to tell us," answered the doctor._

* * *

Midori walked into the hospital room, quietly closing the door behind her. She frowned seeing the pitiful lump crying against the bed.

"Oh, Saeko nee-san...are you alright? I'm sure Natsuki will be fine, she is a strong girl. Just like her mother." She smiled gently, placing one hand on Saeko's shoulder, sitting down on the seat next to Saeko.

Saeko sobbed even louder. Midori grimaced and tried another approach.

"Um, by the way, I just got fired because two of my students were sent to the hospital at the same time...on my first day." Midori smiled, thinking that her unfortunate situation is somehow a funny joke. "Maybe I'll do middle school teaching instead, what do you reckon?"

Saeko blinked.

"...same time?" She whispered, ignoring Midori's question.

Midori smiled, happy that the woman is talking instead of being in hysterics.

"What? Oh right, yes same time. After I carried Na-chan to the office, I went back to the classroom to find Takeda covered in blood, and unconscious on the ground. What a coincidence, seriously. But honestly, I think it's just my bad luck." She frowned. "Or maybe their bad luck...if you know what I mean, " she mumbled grimly.

The older woman gasped, covering her mouth in surprise, recalling an event that she swore she never wanted to remember.

"_The price will start from today. The pain felt from her other half, your daughter will feel it too. If her other half dies, your daughter will die as well."_

Saeko spent the last year in denial, attempting to convince herself that it was only a nightmare. Her daughter never received a potentially fatal injury to the head by her father. Natsuki's father left by his own will. In fact, the divorce papers appeared in her mother's mail box the day she arrived in Fuuka. Most importantly, the Miko Viola was not real! Especially considering how she was already in her mother's house when she woke up.

A thought occurred to her, how would that explain waking up in her mother's house? The distance from her ex-husband's house to the mansion was a two hour drive. She had no recollection of ever making the car trip. Saeko's eyes widened in panic, this cannot happen to her child – she is too young!

"...I don't even know who her soul mate is!" Saeko muttered, chewing her nails.

Saeko stared at the boy in the bed next to her, comprehension flickering across her face.

It was too much of a coincidence, only today she heard from Mai that the boy confessed to Natsuki. Then Midori told her that they were both injured at the_ same time._

"Could he possibly be...?" Saeko muttered to herself.

Midori turned on the television, attempting to brighten the grim situation in the hospital room. She didn't like how Saeko's face was getting paler by the second while staring at Takeda, all while mumbling to herself. She was sure those were signs of a crazy murderer in the making.

Midori turned up the volume.

"...Latest breaking news reporting from Kyoto, there was a malfunction in a private plane four hours ago during a takeoff, leading to the fatal deaths of two people and one injured child..."

"That is so depressing, " muttered Midori as she quickly changed the channel.

"...the deaths confirmed are the presidents of Fujino Corporation, Shiori Fujino and Takeo Fujino, aged thirty five and thirty six..."

"...the child is currently in an induced coma..."

Midori sighed heavily, annoyed that all the channels were reporting the same thing. She was sure that people died every day, but to report a plane crash on ten different channels was pushing it.

"...leaving the only heiress of Fujino Corporation, Shizuru Fujino aged seven..."


	3. Chapter 3- Independence

Disclaimer: I do not own Mai hime/Mai Otome

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Chapter 3

By S

* * *

To strangers, they would think that the girl sitting alone at the back of the classroom had no friends. But in reality, most of her classmates were just too intimidated to sit in the presence of Shizuru Fujino.

She sat perfectly poised on the chair, back straight, knees together with impeccable uniform, not a crease out of place. Her luscious hair, sleek and bronze swayed gently against the wind. It was almost as if she came out of a shampoo advertisement. Her eyes were closed as she sighed contentedly while sipping her tea. Everything in this picture screamed elegant.

No wonder her classmates felt intimidated, they did not feel like they were elegant enough to sit next to her.

Her background did not help with the situation. Everybody knows that Shizuru is the heiress of Fujino Corporation. In fact, she owns almost all of the malls in Japan. Most of the time, her classmates will attempt to initiate a conversation by using homework problems as an excuse, but by the time Shizuru finished teaching them, they will often find themselves feeling rather stupid to hold an intelligent conversation. After all, Shizuru is ranked first in her year level through the country in all school subjects.

Sometimes being at the top is lonely. But Shizuru doesn't mind, she knows that power always comes with a price. She was told that companionship will only make her weak.

"Fujino-san! There are people here to see you!" Her classmate answered the door, opening to a corridor of squealing girls. Her classmates weren't surprised; they visited Shizuru on a daily basis.

Shizuru inwardly groaned. The day was too hot and she was in no mood to entertain a group of girls. For obvious reasons, she wouldn't express her distaste out loud; it would be bad for her image.

An image she carefully constructed over the years.

She made sure to show a polite smile, and pleasantly asked him to let them in. The group of underclassmen rushed into the classroom, eagerly situated themselves around Shizuru.

To the other classmates, it looked like she was being mobbed.

According to Shizuru, she definitely felt like she was being mobbed.

"Onee-sama, we would like to ask if you will be able to assist us in our studies!" The group of girls looked at her awe, holding onto their notebooks while looking hopeful.

Shizuru was glad she sat next to the window; otherwise she was sure she would be suffocated to death.

"It would be my pleasure to each a group of pretty girls," Shizuru replied with a light tone, slightly tilting her head to one side. She grimaced, knowing that the girls didn't need help; they were there just to see her.

The group of girls squealed and sat down, surrounding the poor girl.

"How about we have a cup of tea first?" Shizuru suggested pleasantly.

"Yes, onee-sama! We'll make the tea, please stay seated," said one of the girls, looking too eager to please.

Footsteps stomping in the corridor echoed louder and louder and the classroom door suddenly opened.

"Fujino!" A loud bang of the door rang through the room.

The other classmates stared for a second at the door, before going back to their conversations indifferently.

"Oh, thank God," Shizuru muttered silently.

A blonde busty girl stomped towards the group of surprised girls. She was wearing the same uniform, with the exception of an 'Executive Committee' arm band. The members of the committee are in charge of carrying out disciplinary actions, so everybody avoided them.

Instead of being scared from seeing a member of the executive team, the fan girls were more startled at the loud booming voice – shocked that somebody could address their beloved 'onee-sama' without an honorific.

The blonde paced in loud rushed footsteps towards the girls. She towered over the underclassmen – her arms were crossed and she spoke in a voice full of authority.

"Aren't you girls in the wrong classroom?"

The girls paled, feeling as if they have just been caught stealing. "I'm sorry one-sama, we'll come back later!" they said to Shizuru. They stood up in synchronisation and quickly rushed out of the classroom.

Shizuru blinked innocently at the blonde.

"Oh, what a shame, they were about to make me more tea." Looking back down again, Shizuru sipped the remaining of her tea.

"What is this about hearing you elected as class representative?" raged Haruka, "I only just heard from sensei that you took the _whole _job from me!" She slammed her hands on the desk, emphasizing her point.

The other students continued with their bickering, as if this also happened on a daily basis.

"Umm – it was a class vote, Haruka-chan!" The girl behind Haruka timidly interjected.

Haruka appeared not to have heard her.

"Oh yes, Suzushiro-san, I hoped to take off some of the responsibilities that Suzushiro-san already has to cope with," calmly replied Shizuru, oblivious to Haruka's loud outburst.

The girl behind Haruka eyed Shizuru suspiciously.

"Already has to cope with...?" Haruka repeated. She raised an eyebrow with her hands on her hips, foot tapping the floor impatiently.

"It pains me to watch Suzushiro-san work so diligently in the executive team every day, " sighed Shizuru as Haruka rolled her eyes. "So I thought if I was class representative – it would lighten the burden for you."

She took another sip of the tea, waiting for the message to sink in.

"What are you talking about?! That extra work would be no problem for me!"

Shizuru grinned into her teacup.

"But I thought the additional work for class representative will be too much trouble for you," Shizuru said innocently, "you already manage the executive team after all."

"Of course it will be no trouble! Who do you think I am?" Haruka huffed, rolling her eyes. The girl behind her sighed.

"Then I suppose Suzushiro-san is able to handle my class representative work then?" beamed Shizuru.

"Yes, yes, it will be no problem! I can handle the work just fine! In fact, you don't even need to do anything," she replied indignantly with her arms crossed. "I do it better anyway!"

"Then I leave the work to you then, Suzushiro-san."

Yukino frowned from behind Haruka, "Wait Haruka-chan – "

Sensing Yukino's hesitation, Shizuru quickly added, "Ara, is that person littering, Suzushiro-san?" Shizuru glanced outside her window.

"What? How dare he?!" Not bothering to check, she quickly turned on her heels. "Come on, Yukino!"

Yukino sighed, and hastily followed Haruka.

* * *

Sitting at her desk, she poured herself another cup of tea. Silently sipping, she looked out the window.

Shizuru felt her phone vibrate in her pocket; she took it out and checked the message.

'_Ojou-sama, please attend the main house 8pm tonight. Your grandfather wishes to speak to you.'_

A wave of dread goes through her body and her hands start shaking. She quickly placed her phone down on the table and sipped more tea to calm her thoughts. She had not seen her grandfather in the last ten years.

_Ten years ago:_

_A child kneeled on the faded green tatami floors, her head covered in bandages. She wore a blue kimono and was holding a teddy bear. An old man in a blue yukata sat opposite her, staring down at the child with cold velvet eyes._

_"Fujino-sama, ojou-sama has arrived." The maid bowed deeply. She eyed the child with concern and added hastily, "Please be delicate with her, she only got out of the hospital yesterday. She was in a coma for two weeks."_

_"You think I don't know? Be gone, go do other work," He dismissed the maid._

_"Yes, Fujino-sama."_

_Silence rang through the empty room as the grey-haired man in the yukata glared at the child._

_"Sit properly, have your parents taught you no manners?" The cold, deep voice rang, sending a shiver of fright down the child's spine._

_The child stopped fidgeting from the discomfort, and was rapidly blinking back tears. She only just lost her parents in an unexpected plane crash, and was still coming to terms with the situation._

_"oojii-sama – "_

_"Do not call me oojii-sama!" he interrupted, "from now on I am not your grandfather. You will refer to me as Fujino-sama or Zachou, like everybody else in the company."_

_The child began to sniffle._

_"Do not cry!" The old man stood up, the child flinched from his loud booming voice. "You are not a child anymore, Shizuru. You have no parents left and it is time to grow up. You are of Fujino blood and you will not show any weakness!" stormed the elderly man. "Crying is for the weak. Do not cry."_

_Shizuru quickly wiped her eyes with her teddy bear._

_"You shall not trust anybody – including me," he added, eyes narrowing._

_Then he added in a softer tone, looking away, "But go ahead, if you want to end up like your dead parents."_

_The child sniffled and held onto the teddy-bear._

_The old man stood up, reached forward and slapped the child. He snatched the doll and threw it into the corner. Shizuru stopped crying and held her stinging cheek. She was stunned, even her own parents had never hit her._

_"You do not need things like that to rely on! You can only rely on yourself!"_

_She continued to hold her face, looking down at the tatami._

_"Your parents are no longer in this world, you can only rely on yourself. In the future, Fujino Corporation will depend entirely on you, so you must be strong enough."_

_He crouched down and sat in front of Shizuru. She flinched and leaned away._

_"Listen to me, Shizuru," he said in a low voice. He held her head between his hands, forcing her to look into his eyes._

_"Never show any weakness, Shizuru." He was so quiet as if he was whispering a secret._

_He was so close that Shizuru could see her own frightened expression mirrored in his red irises._

_"Only smile to everybody, no matter who it is. You must show that you are always above them."_

_And the old man gave her a soft smile._

* * *

"I'm going to tell Okaa-san that I am going to move out," declared Natsuki.

"What?!" Both Mai and Nao exclaimed incredulously in synchronisation.

"You heard me," Natsuki dully replied, flicking her long hair back. She watched the changing expressions of the two girls sitting in front of her. Mai covered her mouth in shock. Nao went back to texting despite her earlier outburst.

"YOUR MOTHER – "

"Keep your voice down, dammit! My body guards might hear you!" Natsuki whispered furiously.

Mai looked around and saw the two usual shiny black cars outside the restaurant, with men wearing black suits, suspiciously peering outside their car windows. She shook her head in frustration.

"I thought your mother finally stopped sending those stalkers – " she began, before realising she was off topic. "But other than that, your mother will be insane, Natsuki!" Her voice escalated to a high shrill. "You are only fourteen!"

Natsuki rolled her eyes at Mai's dramatic reaction.

"Yes, Mai, I am _only_ fourteen and I am the one that is about to go_ insane_!" She crossed her arms and glared, "You are overreacting."

"I know how overprotective your mother is, Natsuki...but that is how she shows her love – "

"Don't," Natsuki interjected, pointing her soda at Mai to emphasise her point. "All she cares about is her perfect family. She has Alyssa now, she doesn't need me."

"I'm sure – "

"Stop it Mai," she interrupted, "but other than that, help me think of something! How will I tell my mother?" she pleaded.

Mai gaped silently for a few seconds before looking at the girl next to her, "Nao, say something!"

However, the red-haired girl was too distracted by her phones so she didn't seem to hear any of the conversation.

"Actually, Nao what are you doing? I know you and your mother are pretty well off, but do you really need four cell phones?" Natsuki raised an eyebrow in question, watching Nao text with four phones, one in each hand and two on her lap.

"What?" Nao distractedly looked up from her phones, "Oh, one is to text mama, and the other is to my biological father." She smiled and continued clicking on her phones, "Oh and, well – two of them aren't mine. "

Natsuki's eyebrows shot to her hairline, "Then why do you have them?"

"Okay fine, actually they're mine. These two guys from the streets gave them to me," Nao replied impatiently, refusing to look away from her phone.

"Nao, that is really dangerous!" Mai reprimanded, while forgetting about Natsuki's situation.

"Oh, I'll be fine. You're not the only one with the overbearing mother with body guards," Nao said dully, "and it's not like I can't defend myself."

The other two nodded in agreement. Natsuki's mother forced the trio into multiple martial arts disciplines so that they wouldn't get kidnapped.

"And you know those body guards stalk me twenty four seven, they beat up people who try and touch me. If they tried to sue me – " Nao made an uncharacteristic snort, " – you know what happens to people who piss off mama. "

"Anyway, why are you guys talking about me? I thought we were chatting about Natsuki's situation," Nao raised her perfectly sculpted brow, defining her lime green eyes. She really didn't want them to know about her questionable night time strolls.

"Yes! Help me think of something, Nao," Natsuki demanded, she scowled and folded her arms.

Nao was unimpressed how one could be so demanding while begging.

"That's fine, I already did." She smiled slyly and snapped her phone shut. The two girls looked at her in confusion.

"Really? Let us hear it then."

"Oh, I mean – I already texted your mother, and told her the news."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Natsuki jumped up and slammed both her hands on the table, alarming majority of the restaurant to glance at her. Mai was speechless and stared incredulously at Nao.

"I figured if I did that, it'll save you a lot of pain," Nao replied nonchalantly, "you may thank me tomorrow."

Natsuki's face changed from chalk-white to green, and quickly ran out of the restaurant.

* * *

Shaking from head to toe, Natsuki timidly walked into the living room. She was aware that only her mother is home, her grandmother Maria went to pick up her sister and her step-father was still at work.

"Natsuki-chan." She came face to face with her mother.

She flinched from the voice, aware that the tone is not a good one. Last time the 'tone' was used on her, it was when she broke the living room television. She quickly averted her eyes to the floor.

"Hi Okaa-san, I'm home!" Natsuki was ready to bolt to her room, convinced that this conversation will not go down smoothly.

"I heard you are moving out," her mother stated emotionlessly.

Natsuki was still afraid to see the disappointment in her mother's eyes, and kept her eyes on the floor, "Yes, Okaa-san."

"I think your idea is terrific!" Saeko clapped her hands together.

Blinking twice, Natsuki wasn't sure if she was dreaming. Did her mother just say she is happy from her daughter wanting to move out?

"Wha –why?!" Natsuki was dumbfounded, she had no idea it would be this easy. She expected a loud argument along with a hysterical fit. She could not help but feel slightly hurt.

"Your text from Nao's phone – had completely convinced me that you are more than capable of looking after yourself – for a year only, of course. " Saeko proudly looked at her daughter, and took out her cellphone from her pocket.

Natsuki raised her eyebrows, wondering what Nao said in the text. "I'm not sure what you mean by a year?" she said unsurely, warily eying her mother.

"Here let me read it to you," her mother said eagerly, "I'm so proud of you Na-chan! I believe this is one of my favourite texts ever." She quickly flipped her phone open.

"Dearest Mama, I love you. As heiress of The HIMES Corporation, I believe one should be independent to be able to lead such a reputable company. In order to be competent, please allow me to prove to myself by moving out for a year or two. Into the school dorms of course, so you need not to worry about the potential kidnappers. I am willing to attend all blind dates as long you allow me to prove to myself. Xoxo Natsuki-chan." Her mother finished reading and beamed at her daughter.

Natsuki used her non-existent acting abilities and tried not to let the repulsion show on her face.

"I'm so glad you are finally willing to go for the blind dates!" Saeko gave her daughter a hug. "But of course, the school dorms will not do! We will put you in an apartment, let us sit and talk about this."

She gaped at the unexpected hug, slowly wrapping her arms around her mother. She pondered whether she was supposed to thank Nao for helping her move out, or kill her for accepting the blind dates.

* * *

Shizuru dreaded every step she took as she walked through the gates.

The maids bowed deeply, escorting her to the same room with the faded tatami floors. The same room her grandfather disowned her ten years ago.

She followed the maids and paced along the wooden floors, passing large shoji doors. The main house was a large traditional Japanese house, complete with shoji doors and surrounded by neatly kept gardens. To outsiders, or businessmen, the house flaunted the owner's fortune. To an architecture designer, they would express how the garden and wooden floors were able to create a peaceful atmosphere.

But Shizuru did not feel peace. She felt dread. She wondered what her grandfather wanted after refusing to see her for the past ten years. Shizuru feared that he wanted to cut all association, or perhaps force her to marry one of the business partners.

"This way, Ojou-sama." The maid opened the door, to an old man in the same blue yukata.

Shizuru nodded, and went to kneel on the same spot she knelt on ten years ago.

"Shizuru," the loud, deep voice rang through the room.

"Yes, Fujino-sama?" Shizuru continued to look down at the tatami floor, showing respect by not making any eye contact.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"You look just like your mother," he softly spoke.

Shizuru was caught off-guard by his tone, and looked up into his burgundy eyes. She was surprised that his eyes portrayed emotion, different to the ones that had coolly regarded her ten years ago.

All the dread disappeared within her as she realised that this time, she will have control. She made sure her smile was as pleasant as always, and looked into his eyes.

"Thank you, now what do I owe this pleasure of meeting you today?"

Her grandfather smiled fondly, "I'm taking away your maids. You will move out of the current house and into an apartment. It is time for you to learn to be independent."


	4. Chapter 4 - The contract

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai Hime/Mai Otome**

* * *

Chapter four

By S

* * *

"Okay, Natsuki-chan."

The thick documents landed with a soft 'thump' on the white market table. Saeko sat down cheerfully as she waited for her daughter's reaction.

Sitting opposite her mother, Natsuki suspiciously looked at her odd behaviour. "What is this Okaa-san?" She eyed the big stack of paper warily, hoping it wasn't another text book.

Her mother beamed, she leaned over the table and pointed down at the thick book.

"This is your contract for moving out," her mother stated happily, gently tapping on the stack of paper, "now that you want to be independent, you must realise that every business meeting or agreement should be done on paper." She patiently stared at Natsuki.

The younger woman wondered why her mother classified 'moving out' as 'business agreement'. She wanted to move out, not to sign a business contract!

"Oh, alright..." Natsuki narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she folded her arms and leaned back onto the sofa.

Saeko's expression faltered slightly at her daughter's dull response.

"And every contract you do, you must be conscious of all loop holes. You have until the end of the week to sign this. We may discuss the terms and conditions if you wish, especially about the blind dates," Saeko stated in a business-like voice as she handed the contract to Natsuki.

Natsuki felt her heart plummet when her mother mentioned blind dates. She swallowed the lump in her throat and sighed. She didn't know why her mother would make her sign a contract for moving out. Her grandmother had always told her that family is all about giving and not about receiving. It really places the situation into perspective when her mother is forcing her to sign a contract, as if to make sure her mother will receive something from her end.

She stared at the contract for a good minute in silence, weighing the thick stack in her hands.

"Okay, whatever Okaa-san." Natsuki got up and began to walk towards the stairs.

Saeko pursed her lips at her daughter's attitude, "Listen Natsuki – "

"No, that's fine, _mother_." Natsuki smiled bitterly, "I don't know how you managed to write this _huge contract_ only an hour ago. It almost seems like you have been planning this for most of my life. Don't worry I'm fine with it. In fact, I'm really happy with it."

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and made her way up the stairs.

"I always knew you wanted to get rid of me," Natsuki muttered under her breath, missing the look of anguish on her mother's face.

* * *

She threw the contract across the room and slumped onto her bed.

Natsuki looked at the contract with disgust. She didn't know how her mother could accept her idea of moving out so easily, and create such a large contract full of terms and conditions.

_Is this how a family really should be? I don't see Mai's mother wanting to get rid of her by trying to get her married out of the family._

_And now, my own mother couldn't wait to get rid of me, so she happily accepted for me to move out. _

_Is this because I am from her previous marriage?_

Natsuki sighed heavily into her pillow, swallowing back her tears.

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and saw three new messages, one from Mai and Nao and one from Takeda.

_Is your mother alright? – Mai _

Natsuki quickly replied: _Yes she is, come over with Nao. Mother gave me a contract to sign. _

She then opened the message from Nao: _How did it go? Haha I bet she gave you a contract again – Nao _

Natsuki furiously typed back a message, making sure it was in caps lock: _WHY DID YOU ACCEPT THE BLIND DATES?_

Lying in bed, she waited for a reply from the both of them. Then her cell phone started ringing.

"Nao?"

"_What the heck? Blind dates? I said nothing about blind dates!"_ Nao sounded slightly panicked from the other side of the phone.

"My mother said in the message that 'I will gladly accept all blind dates to move out for a year!' What in the word did you text my mother?" Natsuki almost yelled into the phone, before remembering she was pretending to be asleep.

"_I only texted her saying: you will move out and that you love her, and some other suck up shit, but definitely not blind dates! I know how much you hate them."_

Natsuki groaned and slumped against her pillow, realising her mother had lied to her, "Okay, just come over and help me sort this out. I got a huge contract for you to read."

"_...okay, I'll be there soon. I'll just pack some PJs." _

"Yeah, see you guys soon."

She flipped onto her back and decided to read the last message from Takeda.

_The weather is good here today, how was yours? The shrine here is awesome. The boys and I are training diligently. I miss you. I hope you had a lovely school day. See you in a couple of days – Takeda_

Natsuki smiled at the text, at least somebody cared for her.

* * *

"What are you smiling at? It's creepy."

Natsuki screamed and bolted from her bed. "Nao! You gave me a huge fright!" She held her hand over her racing heart and glared at the smug girl leaning by the door way.

"I only live next door; it doesn't take long for me to get here. Was it Takeda?" Nao smirked and placed her bag down. "Mai should be here soon, she went to pick up her brother."

"Yeah, the contract is next to your feet by the way," Natsuki said, determined to change the subject.

Nao picked up the contract and sat on the floor. "This is so thick! It's like a dictionary," she mused, weighing it in her hands before flipping through the pages. "So...are you going out with Takeda?" Nao asked casually, not looking up from the contract.

"No, I told you before, he told me he's gay," Natsuki quickly retorted.

Nao took out her high lighter pen and started colouring parts of the contract.

"And, I also told you before; he did that just to talk to you. He's obviously lying."

Natsuki huffed and crossed her arms. "I don't care, he's a great friend. He can keep pretending to be gay then," she muttered defensively before looking at Nao, "don't you remember that he confessed to me – thinking that I was a boy? So he must be gay."

Nao stopped and looked at Natsuki, raising one eyebrow, "He only ever confessed to you, Na-chan."

She flushed, embarrassed by the nick name, "Oh shut up. I still reckon he's gay, "she gave her a chastising look, "and don't call me Na-chan."

"Okay, Natsuki-chan," she sang as Natsuki responded with a disapproving frown.

"Hi guys! I bring food!" Mai walked into Natsuki's room, carrying cake boxes. "By the way, your mother said you were sleeping. Really, Natsuki? Its only 7pm"

Natsuki sighed and sat crossed legged on the bed, "No, I just didn't want to talk to her anymore."

"How come?"

Sensing Natuski's solemn mood, she quickly placed down the cake boxes and sat next to Natsuki.

"I don't like how my relationship with her is simplified into a business contract again! This always happens!"

Nao looked up from the contract to look at Natsuki. Mai leaned over and gave Natsuki a hug.

"It'll be okay. Nao and I already live in the dorms; we'll come visit you every day."

Natsuki gave a small smile, aware they already visit her daily.

"What in the world is this red string of fate section?" Nao looked bemused, "whoa, almost a whole quarter of the contract is dedicated to it!" She exclaimed while flipping the thick book. She silently read the first page of the section with an amused expression, "So _that's_ why she keeps sending you on blind dates!"

Natsuki pulled back from the hug and rolled her eyes, "My mother thinks I have this connection to some guy, connected by a red string or something. She said if my soul mate gets hurt, I will too. I swear she watches too much drama."

The red haired girl on the floor laughed, "That is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard." She stared at Natsuki, narrowing her eyes, "I don't see you having a string."

"Nao! Language!" Mai reprimanded the girl, who reciprocated by rolling her eyes. "But yes, that does sound a bit ridiculous."

"And for some reason she thinks its Takeda!" exclaimed Natsuki, throwing her hands up in frustration, "I didn't want you guys to think she's crazy, so I never told you two about it."

The girls stared back sceptically and then giggled.

"It does kind of make sense, considering you were in a coma for two weeks. Somehow both of you had injuries and be unconscious at the same time. But he was asleep and you were in a coma."

"But he's gay! I thought he's in love with Tate-san!" argued Mai.

"Exactly!" Natsuki turned around, giving the girl a hi-five.

Nao looked at the contract, "Whatever, your mother is obviously crazy. Oh, this contract says if your soul mate is gay, you still have to marry him. I think she was talking about Takeda."

Natsuki paled, so this is what her mother meant by loop holes, "She doesn't know that he's gay though."

"And if you don't want to marry him, you have to keep going on weekly blind dates."

She felt like crying. "Why is moving out so difficult? I don't know how it can all be related to blind dates."

"Don't worry; let's just get Takeda to pretend to be with you! I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Nao smirked slyly as she closed the contract and passed it to Mai.

"But that's really unfair to him! What if he wants to date some other guy?" Natsuki snapped at Nao, who ignored her, and managed to get out two phones to start texting again.

Mai looked through the contract. "Wait, Natsuki...you won't be moving into the dorms with us, in fact you will be living in an apartment. You will get money every month but you have to make your own food, "Mai paled at remembering Natsuki's cooking attempts. "And Miyu san will live in the apartment next to you!" she grimaced, "And the part says you're not allowed to skip school more than three times a week!"

Natsuki rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "Mai, you are overreacting. Miyu-san will be with Alyssa most of the time so I'll be fine. It's not like I'm not used to Miyu-san stalking me all the time. Don't you remember before Alyssa was born? She stalked – "

Mai gave her a disapproving look.

"–fine sorry, I mean protected. She needed to protect me even when I was in the bathroom! I couldn't even go alone! Well...skipping school three times a week will be okay, considering I don't even skip school."

Mai closed the thick contract, looking at the book, full of disgust. "This is way too thick. I'm not sure how your mother managed to make this contract so quickly. We only told her this afternoon, didn't we? It's almost like she's been planning it her whole life." She weighed it in her hands before passing it to Natsuki.

"She probably was. Right after she got the text she made me sit down and magically pulled this out from behind her back. I bet she made Miyu write it. I think our robot theory about her _must_ be true."

Her two friends snorted in agreement.

"Enough of that, let's have some cake." Nao started towards the cake boxes. "Sign it so you can move out soon, there isn't much we can argue about without changing the entire contract. It's too much."

Natsuki reluctantly signed the contract.

* * *

Meanwhile at the shrine, Takeda was counting loudly with every swing of his bamboo sword. Behind him are his team-mates, all of them mimicking his movements. The kendo swords whipped the air as they all attacked in synchronisation.

"Why did we have to come to this stupid shrine? We come here every summer!" a boy complained as he swung his kendo rather lazily.

The captain of the team ignored the complaints and continued to count louder than before.

"It's so rare we get to go on a school trip, yet we come to this stupid shrine!" Yuuichi Tate yelled as the other boys shouted in agreement. "The miko here isn't even pretty! She's just old!"

"At least pick the beach, senpai! Think of our manhood, there are no girls here!"

The curly haired girl sitting on the grass stood up furiously.

"Excuse me, I'm a girl!" she proclaimed indignantly. She ran to the practising group to cling onto her boyfriend's arm.

"Onii-chan, tell me you don't think the same!"

The distracted group of men swung their kendo swords with less vigour, anticipating the boy's response.

"Sure, Shiho," replied Tate, in a reluctant tone. She pouted at him.

The brown haired boy stopped counting and turned around to face his team mates.

"Real men need to know how to do hard work! Now, shut up!" Takeda shouted.

"Real men don't wear dresses," Tate retorted, clearly unhappy being told to shut up.

"S-shut up!" spluttered Takeda, blushing furiously, "That picture was not me! That was my sister!" He argued defensively. Before Takeda's sister was born, his mother dressed him up as a girl to express her longing for a second child.

The other team members cringed, they have heard the same argument every practise between the two men.

"Right...your sister wasn't even born yet when I found that picture," snorted Tate as he rolled his eyes.

"Men do not wear dresses!" he hissed, glaring while gritting his teeth. He turned around to face the front and furiously swung his kendo sword.

"Now another hundred times to get rid of such lewd thoughts. We do not need the beach!" He pointed his sword at Tate, as if he was the cause of all trouble. The boy responded with another eye roll. "Distractions of girls will only stall your progress as a swordsman."

"What are you implying? I'm a girl too – you're saying I'm not a distraction!" yelled the curly haired girl. She turned around and faced the blonde boy, pulling his arm in desperation. "Onii-chan! Say something!"

"Shiho..." Tate sighed, watching his girlfriend nag and drag his arm, "do you want to practise with us too?"

And so, Shiho stormed off into the shrine.

"That was cruel Tate. Your poor girlfriend!" teased the boy next to him. Tate shrugged indifferently.

"Be quiet, all of you!" snapped Takeda, still recovering from his embarrassment.

Then they all continued to practise in silence, too afraid to say anything more to aggravate their manly captain.

* * *

Normally they ate on the rooftop, but today the weather was too hot. Natsuki sat at her desk, eating lunch with Nao and Mai.

"Ugh! I hate this weather." Natsuki started tying her hair into a pony tail.

"And this is why you should cut your hair as short as mine," smirked Nao, "but you're obviously too worried that people will start asking you to be their boyfriend."

Natsuki scowled, "Shut up Nao."

It was true; she never had another short hairstyle since she was five.

A group of girls squealed next to them, causing Mai to drop her tamagoyaki from fright.

"What the..." muttered Nao, as she raised her eyebrows. She looked at her squealing class mates, all holding notebooks walking towards the exit. "I can't believe people get this excited to eat outside in this weather." She eyed the notebooks. "Wow, doing homework outside too. They will get such a bad tan – also wrinkles too."

"Oh, they're going to visit Fujino-senpai," Mai said, picking up her tamagoyaki from the table with her chopsticks, ignoring Nao's scandalised look.

"Who the heck is that?" Natsuki exclaimed, bewildered that her classmates could get this excited over an upperclassman.

"This class representative from upstairs, how can you not know her? She's ranked number one in Japan for her whole year level." Mai looking slightly offended. "And plus, they go there every lunchtime!" She pointed at the overly excited girls with her chopsticks. "How can you not notice?"

Natsuki shrugged.

"Yeah, I didn't notice either, until you dropped your tamagoyaki," Nao laughed, as she stole one of Mai's tamagoyaki.

Mai rolled her eyes. "And apparently she's really pretty too. She's the heiress of Fujino Corporation, you know," Her mouth full of tamagoyaki. "It's rivalling your company, Natsuki," she added.

"Well, you don't see me with a bunch of fan girls," Natsuki scoffed, as she took a large drink of water.

"Actually you do have them," Mai replied.

"What?" Natsuki choked and spluttered onto Mai, who looked disgusted. "Whoops, sorry Mai." She quickly threw her some tissues.

"The entire kendo club obviously," Nao interrupted.

"But they're all men! And Takeda is the captain!" she argued defensively.

"Who said gay men can't be fan girls?" Nao teased, eyes sparkling.

Natsuki gaped like a fish. "Well, uh, I mean –"

"What I'm trying to say is–" Mai glared at Nao for interrupting, while drying her wet face. "You do have fan girls! Every morning they say hi to you. And most of the time, the kendo club manage to control your crowd. Since they're out training at the shrine right now, a lot more of them say hello to you."

Natsuki thought about it, remembering at least ten girls said hello to her this morning.

"Okay...that's just weird. People should not be fans of their class mates!" Natsuki huffed and glared at the group of girls leaving the classroom.

"Are you a fan girl of Fujino, Mai?" Nao slyly asked, "You _did_ say 'apparently she's really pretty', don't even bother pretending you didn't say that."

"N-no! of course not!" The girl blushed and averted her eyes.

"You totally are!" Both Nao and Natsuki started laughing.

"S-shut up or you two aren't getting more of my lunch!" She blushed from both anger and embarrassment, effectively shutting both of them up. "And it's not Fujino-senpai, it's somebody else!"

They stared curiously at Mai, patiently waiting for her to continue.

"I'll tell you guys some other time," she stated shyly.

Sensing she wasn't going to get anything more out of the girl, Natsuki changed the subject. "Oh, you guys come over and help me move. I'm moving out tonight. The apartment is just five minutes from your dorm." Natsuki smiled as both girls brightened at the news.

"I'll ask Miyu to bring alcohol," Nao smirked at the disapproving look from both Mai and Natsuki.

Mai clapped her hands together excitedly. "Excellent! I'll bring my karaoke machine!"

Nao winced and shared a knowing look with Natsuki.

"Okay, only if you bring food," Natsuki compromised reluctantly. She laughed when Nao yelled 'traitor!' with a horrified expression. She knew arguing will be useless, Mai celebrated everything with a karaoke machine. "And don't bring any other people. We still have school tomorrow."

* * *

Shizuru frowned when she saw the wooden floors instead of the usual tatami. The apartment had one simple bedroom, a living room and kitchen.

"Fujino-sama, where would you like this last box placed?" asked the maid carrying a large cardboard box.

"Please place it into the bedroom next to the bed. Thank you."

"Would you like us to buy your groceries after this? Senior Fujino-sama had suggested that we buy your groceries every week." Another maid asked as she came into the apartment.

Shizuru wondered why her grandfather was now acting so caring towards her. The old man did a complete turn on his attitude since the last meeting at the main house. It was almost like he _cared _for Shizuru.

"Ookini. That'll be sufficient. I'm certain I possess the ability to buy my own groceries."

She almost wanted to scoff. Her grandfather wanted her to be independent; asking the maids to buy her groceries will ruin the purpose.

"Please send my gratitude towards Fujino-sama. You may all leave now."

The maids bowed deeply. "Please call us if you need anything, Fujino-sama." They left their numbers on the table and a platinum gold credit card. "We will leave you alone now, please take care of yourself."

Shizuru was not oblivious. She was aware that even if they left her alone, there were still bodyguards living in the same complex –making sure she was safe.

_Or rather, not making a fool of myself to embarrass the Fujino name._

Standing in the middle of the kitchen, she felt overcome with loneliness. She could feel the familiar emptiness; ache inside her and through her fingers. Although she had maids around her during most of her life, today she was alone.

She looked at the kitchen table – thankful that one of her old maids already made her a pot of tea. She poured herself a cup as she sat down on the kitchen seat.

Bringing the cup up to her nose, she appreciated the aroma, and took a sip. The warmth slowly filled the feeling of emptiness at the pit of her stomach.

* * *

Natsuki was annoyed. She had tried sleeping on the couch while Mai still kept singing about depressing love songs. She had been singing one sided love songs for the last seven hours. If she didn't know better, it was almost as if Mai was singing about her own love life. They only spent thirty minutes to move Natsuki's new apartment, and the rest of the evening was spent singing/listening to karaoke.

Nao was already asleep on the floor, snoring, surrounded by empty alcohol bottles and pizza boxes.

It was one in the morning and Natsuki was aware that she probably had neighbours that wanted to strangle her for the noise.

"But I never get to sing!" argued Mai as she waved her microphone like a typical drunk.

"I'm sure you have!" exclaimed Natsuki, "plus if you stay up this late, you are going to get _fat_!"

Natsuki was aware what the f word will do to her, she would almost felt guilty if it wasn't for the seven hour karaoke marathon.

The effect of the f word was instantaneous. "I am not fat!" She violently threw the microphone at Natsuki. "You know what? I'm going to sleep right now!" She stormed off to the bedroom and slammed the door.

* * *

The next morning, the loud rooster call rang through the room, as the sun shone through the curtain right onto Natsuki's face. She groaned while rapidly blinking, the sun was unforgiving and it gave her a dull throb in the head.

"Turn it off!" whined Nao, who threw a pizza box at Natsuki.

Natsuki winced, throwing it back at Nao and looked for her phone under the empty bottles. Sighing in relief, she turned off the alarm. Then she opened the new text message, wondering who would dare to text her so early in the morning.

_Natsuki-chan. Date today at 2pm. Sato-san will pick you up at school around 1:30pm to get dressed.-Mama_

Natsuki swore loudly, earning another pizza box from Nao.

* * *

After school:

Natsuki fidgeted in her viridian dress while sitting opposite her blind date. Her mother booked the entire restaurant. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her face was red with anger. She fiddled with her fork, repeatedly stabbing the spaghetti with a vengeance. She couldn't believe she was told to skip last period of school just to attend a stupid date. She had a sneaking suspicion that her mother picked a school time to stop Mai and Nao from interfering.

"Kuga-san?" her blind date questioned with concern. He was wearing a black suit in this dreadfully hot weather; his blonde hair was short and slick, glistening in the sunlight.

Natsuki felt a slight panic when she couldn't remember his name. Was it Murasaki? Yamamoto? Yamada?

Not wanting to be rude, she completely avoided saying his name.

"Yes?" she asked in mock politeness.

Her blind date mistook her flushed face for embarrassment instead of anger, and looked hopeful. "As I was saying, I was wondering if you will like to–"

And continued to animatedly discuss whatever he was talking about.

Natsuki blanked out again. This date obviously talked too much. She got out her phone and started to text Nao. She thought about texting Mai, but the girl was still very angry at Natsuki.

"_My date is a talker." _Natsuki sent the text to Nao and pretended to look at her spaghetti while she hid her phone from view.

Nao's reply was instant. _"How's your dress?"_ She could almost hear her sneering voice over the text.

Natsuki texted back_: "I can't believe the contract even required me to wear a dress/skirt." _

Thankfully, her blind date was oblivious to the secret conversation, and continued to ramble happily.

Nao replied at lightning speed –Nastuki presumed that it was her skill from practising with four phones.

"_You should've just gone in your uniform. The contract did say you can leave after 30 minutes, you know, unless you are secretly enjoying it. Lol" _Again, Natsuki could almost hear Nao sniggering through the text.

She looked at the time on her phone. Indeed it was past thirty minutes. She quickly stood up and got her bag.

"Kuga san?"

She inwardly groaned, she almost forgot she still had a date.

"I'm sorry Mister...?" She raised one of her eyebrows while putting her on her black blazer.

"Murasaki." He didn't look disheartened even though Natsuki forgot his name.

"Oh yes, Murasaki-san. Well, I have to go now." She began walking towards the door, ignoring the man's protests, her black heels clicking against the tile floor.

Then she stopped before reaching for the door, silently chastising herself that she is still an heiress; an exit like this would be extremely rude. Hesitantly, she looked over her shoulder.

"Thank you for your support with our Corporation." She lamely remarked in a monotone and ignored his spluttering. Then she turned around, her raven hair elegantly swaying behind her as she walked out the door.

Her mother wouldn't tell her off for being rude, at least she said thank you.


	5. Chapter 5 - Fate

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai Hime/Mai Otome**

* * *

Chapter 5

By S

* * *

She stood in front of the restaurant, her perfectly ironed uniform now completely drenched. She couldn't believe it only stopped raining when she arrived at the supermarket.

Shizuru was having a really bad day. Bad was almost an understatement, in fact, everything seemed to turn for the worse. Last night she hardly slept, thanks to her inconsiderate neighbours singing all night till around one in the morning. Shizuru thought that most Japanese had decent manners, to at least withhold partying for a non-working night, clearly her neighbour had no manners. Why would people party on a Tuesday night?

At school, Haruka didn't save her from her usual mob of fan girls. Most of the time she relied on the girl to turn up at the exact time her fan girls turn up. But Haruka only showed up later in the day, complaining loudly how she was forced to chase a raven haired girl who escaped class via a limo.

Shizuru made a mental note to hide outside tomorrow; she couldn't risk another session of feeling suffocated by her fan girls. Image is important, but mental health is needed to withhold an image.

To make matters worse, it only started pouring with rain when she stepped outside the school gates. It was as if the weather was waiting to attack her. Now after being rained on, and mud all over her shoes, she was finally in front of the supermarket.

It was her first grocery shopping day after moving to her new apartment. Frankly, her day was so bad she couldn't even feel excited any more, only slightly anxious.

Her day only got worse when she walked right into the automatic doors.

_Ouch!_

Shizuru winced, holding her nose in pain. She quickly glanced around in disbelief, hoping nobody had seen such an embarrassing moment.

After making sure that nobody saw her, she quickly recollected herself and walked into the supermarket indifferently. Obviously the doors had a problem differentiating whether she was human or not.

_Pull yourself together!_ Shizuru scolded herself as she picked up a shopping basket.

_A Fujino does not feel, let alone get nervous about a shopping trip._

* * *

_This is just poor planning, poor planning, poor planning._ She mentally chanted to herself as she scanned through her shopping list.

_I should have brought an umbrella, painkillers for my headache, and an extra pair of shoes..._

_There is no such thing as bad luck, only poor planning._

After around thirty minutes of shopping, she walked to the check out area. She gaped incredulously at the long queue.

_Poor planning indeed._

She whisked off to waste another thirty minutes, making a mental note to never shop after school with so many housewives around.

Turning into the condiment aisle, she was treated to the most peculiar sight. The first thing she noticed was the legs.

They were lean, never-ending pale legs in black heels. The milky white legs hid themselves into a modest, knee height viridian dress, with a small teasing slit on the side. On top of the dress was a small black blazer. It covered the girl modestly as the dress hugged her lithe curves. The black hair flowed gently behind her.

The girl looked so elegant despite the fact she was reaching up for a mayonnaise bottle, all while inelegantly _grunting. _

Shizuru almost wanted to laugh at the bizarre sight.

Being the heiress of Fujino Corporations, Shizuru had been forced into many formal business conferences since an early age. As a result, she was used to how rich girls dress; all poised with elegance while wearing the most expensive brands. But most importantly, they were all fake. Their personalities were all pretend, their images carefully constructed for their rich family. Even Shizuru found herself to have a bit of a facade.

The girl was evidently rich. She could recognise the brand on the dress, blazer and heels. After all, Fujino Corporations owns the leading fashion retailers in Japan. So of course, the heiress would need to know all about the industry.

And so, Shizuru found the sight very peculiar. A rich girl in a supermarket; without her head held high like the usual spoilt mistress. In fact, she was acting very much out of character, it was almost as if she didn't have a facade.

Most importantly, to Shizuru's amusement, the pretty girl was grunting, the mayonnaise bottle was obviously very important.

After all, why would a rich girl go to a supermarket? Or even attempt to reach for something too high for her. Shizuru knows that, the usual spoilt mistress would never reach things for themselves; most of them had butlers and maids. Furthermore, there were shop assistants everywhere. Either this girl was too stubborn to ask for help, or didn't care about image.

Overwhelmed by curiosity, Shizuru decided she needed to _meet _the girl, but of course, mainly to help the girl out of her distress. Feeling the knot in her stomach twist, Shizuru walked towards the girl.

But right before she could reach her, another man walked to the girl from the other end of the aisle. A blonde man wearing a full suit reached up and easily fetched the mayonnaise bottle.

"Here you go," he said while wearing a toothy grin.

Shizuru frowned in disappointment from not getting there sooner, but mainly wondered why anybody would wear a suit in this weather.

"Oh thanks," the girl spoke in a husky voice, sounding slightly surprised.

"Oh it's you, Yamamoto-san," her tone filled with distaste, as she snatched the mayonnaise bottle.

"No, my name is Murasaki," he sounded hopeful while correcting her. He put one arm on the shelf and stared at the girl.

To Shizuru's horror, the man leaned further and further down towards the raven-haired girl, as if he was about to kiss her. The girl stiffened in surprise and shock before taking one step back.

"Ugh!" The girl quickly turned her head and conveniently whipped her hair in his face. She pushed him roughly with both hands and he stumbled onto the ground.

Shizuru briefly caught a glimpse of the girl's side view when she walked around him. In the split second, they locked in eye contact. To her amusement, the girl looked horrified while blushing profusely and quickly broke eye contact; Shizuru couldn't help but give a small smile in return.

"W-wait! I need to ask you something," he spluttered as he got up to chase after her. The girl yelled a colourful curse word and stormed away with ridiculous speed in the high heels, and disappeared around the aisle.

Shizuru didn't know what overcame her to feel the need to call out to the blonde man– feeling a sudden urge to protect the girl.

"Murasaki-san," Shizuru spoke in a melodic tone, emphasizing her Kyoto accent. She found that her Kyoto accent worked best in intimidating business partners. Or perhaps in this case, to intimidate men wearing suits in summer.

The man stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Yes?" He looked displeased from being interrupted.

However his face lit up at the sight of Shizuru. "Do I know you? How do you know my name? I apologize, you do look quite familiar." He gave her a flirtatious wink, and ran his hands through his golden hair.

Unfazed with the unwanted advances, Shizuru kept her pleasant smile in check. "Murasaki-san," she repeated in a sweet tone. "Please leave her alone or I will call the police."

His face paled to chalk-white. "I'm afraid you have the wrong person, so the police are not necessary! And I have to go. Goodbye!" He awkwardly ran away in his suit.

Feeling pleased with her actions, Shizuru walked around the aisle to ask the girl if she was okay. She walked around the aisle; unfortunately, the raven haired girl was nowhere in sight– not even at the long queue. Frowning, Shizuru decided to call the police anyway, mainly to curb her disappointment.

Shortly after, the supermarket and neighbourhood was filled with police and arrested a blonde man wearing a suit, on the charges of assault and harassment.

* * *

"Mai _please_ buy my groceries. I'll let you sing karaoke at my place at least twice next week," Natsuki pleaded through the phone while she tried to pull her dress off.

_"Okay... What happened in the supermarket?"_ Mai replied, her voice sounding slightly concerned.

"The blind date stalked me and threatened to _kiss me_ in the supermarket!" she exasperated as she threw her heels into the wardrobe. "I didn't beat this one up by the way – I almost did, "she added as an after note, as if determined to prove that she doesn't beat up all of her suitors.

Natsuki rolled her eyes as she listened to Mai laughing hysterically on the other side of the phone.

"I was about to kick his sorry ass until this pretty girl with pretty eyes saved him– " Natsuki continued ranting over the laughter as she looked for her cotton shorts.

This effectively shut Mai up.

"_Pretty?"_ Mai interrupted, sounding incredulous. "_Natsuki, you never call anybody pretty,"_ she stated matter-of-factly. "_Let alone call them pretty _twice,_"_ she emphasized the 'ce' at the end.

Natsuki felt her face heat up. She realised this really was unlike her to compliment anybody; she could barely call her stuffed toys 'cute'.

"I-I meant pretty _cool_ girl with pretty_ cool_ eyes," she stuttered lamely as she struggled to explain herself, as Mai '_ah huh_'ed at the comment. "Oh, she threatened him saying she'll call the police. I should have stayed to say thank you, but I had to hide," Natsuki sighed, face palming. "By the time I came out of the bathroom, she was gone."

_"Then you should go back and do your own groceries _– _so you can see her again! She might still be there!"_

"But that's_ embarrassing_ Mai! What if I run into her again? People don't go to the supermarket twice in a night! What would the cashiers think? What would _she_ think?!" Natsuki balanced the phone between her shoulder and head as she pulled her shorts on. "She was watching when that idiot tried to kiss me!" Natsuki blushed, remembering the embarrassing moment. "And I certainly don't want to seem like an ungrateful brat..." she held onto the phone while she grabbed her t-shirt, "can't you say thanks for me if you see her?"

_"You're more ungrateful if you don't go. I don't even know what she looks like! Honestly, it's not even embarrassing. Gosh, your pride and logic is so weird. I really doubt the cashiers remember you, you didn't even buy anything."  
_  
"But– " she muffled through her t-shirt as she tried to pull it down from her head.

_"Just go, gosh!"_

"Karaoke three times next week!" Natsuki bribed urgently. "I just don't want to go back today. She's probably not even there anymore."

The line went silent as Mai pondered her options.

"_Gosh, Natsuki, you're so lazy-"_

"Plus one karaoke time tonight?" Natsuki bribed with her fingers crossed.

_"Okay Natsuki. I'll buy the groceries today. Next week you buy your own! And I'm not saying thanks to her. You have to do it yourself... I don't even know what she looks like." Mai grumbled.  
_  
"Thank you Mai! And check if they have anymore mayonnaise, please. I didn't get to buy any today."

* * *

It was around eight thirty in the evening: Nao and Natsuki were doing their homework together on the small coffee table on the floor while Mai was in the kitchen.

"Is it really okay for you not to be in your dorm for two nights in a row?" Natsuki asked as she looked up from her homework. She was worried that the executive team might find out. That crazy Haruka girl chased her across the field today, even though she had a teacher's note to leave class.

"Yeah, Akane never stays in the dorm anyway. I won't tell on her and she won't tell on me," replied Nao, as she busily copied Mai's notes. "I think she has a boyfriend," she added casually.

"No way!" exclaimed Mai, excited by the gossip. She turned around from the pot of steaming food. "Who is she with?"

Nao smirked. "Why the sudden interest Mai? Don't worry it's not Tate."

Mai quickly turned back to stir the pot of food. "I'm n-not interested in Yuiichi-san!" she stammered, her neck redder than usual.

Nao scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever,"

"So who's she with?" Mai asked, determined to stay on topic, and turned around to look at Nao.

"Kaazu something, I can't remember his name," Nao replied dully as she continued to copy notes.

"It's Kazuya! He hangs out with Yuiichi and Takeda." Mai looked at Nao with a raised eyebrow. "How can you not know? He's been in our class since we were seven!"

"So..." Nao smiled slyly, ignoring her question, "you and Yuiichi Tate are on first name terms now?"

"That's not the point here, Nao!" Mai's face flushed pink and quickly looked back at the pot of food.

"Ok ok, I thought you liked Fujino-Senpai anyway."

Mai stopped stirring, she looked at Nao in disbelief, mouth agape, "What?! I do not like _her_! She's a girl! That's... weird!"

"Okay, Nao stop teasing her, she's the one cooking dinner after all," Natsuki chastised the girl sitting opposite her; Nao pursed her lips in amusement.

"Yes. Shut up or you get no dinner," Mai nodded as she agreed with Natsuki.

"Okay, I'll tease Natsuki instead," Nao smirked and spun her pencil around her fingers. She turned around and looked at Natsuki with a huge grin.

Natsuki immediately regretted defending Mai.

"How's Takeda?"

Natsuki face palmed with both of her hands, "Gay, Nao. He is gay! Gay!" she snapped at her.

Nao shrugged indifferently, "All I wanted to know was how he was doing, not his sexual orientation."

"Ugh, Nao!" Natsuki exasperated and snapped her pencil in half. Nao chuckled and looked at her in amusement.

Knowing that Nao will have most fun out of getting a reaction, she forced herself to keep a straight face.

"He'll be back from the shrine tomorrow. He's fine," Natsuki deadpanned and folded her arms, staring straight into Nao's eyes, who only grinned wider.

"And you know this because...?"

Just as Natsuki was about to get up and shout at the girl, the door bell rang.

She got up while glaring at the smug girl and walked towards the door.

"I wonder who it is," Mai pondered while she stirred the curry pot.

Natsuki looked through the peep hole and saw a tall grey haired woman in a black business suit, holding a blonde little girls hand.

"Hi Obaasan, hi Alyssa!" Natsuki quickly opened the door.

"Onee-chan!" The little blonde girl gleefully attached herself to Natsuki.

* * *

Shizuru could hear the low bass seething through her apartment walls. She rustled in her bed, trying to find a comfortable position. She had been twisting and turning for at least the last two hours. Giving up, she sat upright in frustration and looked at her clock.

_1AM._

She groaned into her pillow, this was not going to be good for her skin.

If her neighbour wouldn't shut up with the karaoke, she is definitely going to be making complaints in the morning. This was already the second night in a row. Why in the world would people sing karaoke on a weeknight?

Feeling extremely aggravated, she texted her bodyguards.

* * *

The following morning, Natsuki's mother came knocking at the door at the break of dawn.

"Natsuki, do you like Murasaki-san?" Saeko asked in a serious tone. She sat opposite Natsuki at the kitchen table and her fingers drummed the table impatiently as she waited for her answer.

"Mura– Murasaki? Whos that?" Natsuki asked with her mouth full of her breakfast. She was still half asleep since her mother knocked on the apartment door at 6am. Mai and Nao were still sleeping in her bedroom.

"He's the date from yesterday!"

Natsuki chewed slowly and swallowed loudly.

"No," she answered simply, looking half awake, the dark under eye circles looking visible from the lack of sleep.

"But you thanked him yesterday! You never say thank you! Normally you just beat them up. Do you– "

"No," Natsuki interrupted as she put down her spoon. She folded her arms and glared at her mother, wondering how in the world her mother knew she thanked Murasaki. "I only thanked him for supporting our company!"

"You don't even know what I was about to say!" Her mother face palmed, looking frustrated.

"I do too!" Her face flared up with anger. "You were going you were going to ask if he's the one! You ask that after _every single date_! Do I need to remind you that I am a minor? I'm only fourteen! How in the world would I know if he's the one?! Despite the fact he's really dense, I doubt my other half could be that annoying, not to mention stupid! "

Natsuki liked to think of herself as a sweet girl with a nice temper, just not at six in the morning to talk about potential suitors.

"So is he the one?" Her mother looked up at her hopefully.

"No!" she snapped back, feeling antagonized and wishing she could go back in time and beat up Murasaki into a pulp instead of thanking him.

Saeko slumped back on the kitchen chair, eyebrows furrowing and looking crestfallen. She sighed and looked at the ceiling.

Natsuki felt slightly condemned for her outburst. "Look, Okaasan, " She held her own head with both hands and closed her eyes. "I don't even – I don't even_ know_ why you think putting me in blind dates is necessary. I'm only fourteen."

"It's for your–"

"I know! You always say it's for my life, but I'm still living!" Her voice escalated and so did her temper. "You have to let me live my own life instead of suffocating me. I don't want to waste my life going on stupid blind dates!" She glared at her mother and gripped the edge of the table in frustration.

The bedroom door opened just as Saeko opened her mouth to argue.

"You guys are so loud," croaked Nao in a tired voice. Her hair was short and unruly as she slumped to the couch. She wore her uniform blouse buttoned halfway and Saeko could see the pink lacy underwear underneath.

"It's only six thirty in the morning, Saeko-san," she yawned and lay fully on the couch.

Saeko looked at the girl's attire with a scandalised expression. She then turned to Natsuki.

"Natsuki-chan. Did you _sleep_ with Nao-chan?" she asked calmly.

"Sure did, Mai slept with us too," Natsuki replied indifferently as she picked up her spoon to eat her cereal. "She's still in the bedroom."

Nao blushed to the colour of a tomato. "That's not what she meant Natsuki! And no, we did not _sleep _together!" she yelled indignantly. "We had a Karaoke party last night, Saeko-san."

"Oh, is that so?" Saeko smirked.

Nao groaned into the sofa pillow in frustration, too tired to argue.

Saeko turned to look at her daughter. "You can always date Takeda, Na-chan," her mother suggested, continuing the conversation from before.

Natsuki did not look pleased, and narrowed her eyes.

"He's gay," she blurted out loud, forgetting that it was meant to be a secret.

"Don't be so _rude_. I want you to apologise for calling him that. He's been in love with you since you were five. It's meant to be. "

Before Natsuki could snap at her mother, the girl on the couch snorted loudly.

"That wouldn't work; Natsuki has been in love with herself since that age," Nao drawled sarcastically, her head resting on the cushion.

Both Mother and daughter glared at Nao. Saeko glared from knowing the obvious attempt of changing the topic, while Natsuki glared from her bruised ego.

After a brief silence, Saeko sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "Oh well, I have to get to work," She got up from the chair and grabbed her keys. "Do come home sometime Natsuki, everybody misses you."

Natsuki sighed," I've only been away for two days Okaa-san," She walked her mother to the door. "Tell Alyssa I said hi. She visited last night anyway."

Her mother gave Natsuki a hug. "Okay. Have fun at school, maybe you guys can go early today," she added hopefully.

Natsuki snorted as she opened the front door. "No way, I'm going back to sleep."

"Yeah me too," Nao yawned loudly as she walked back into the bedroom.

Saeko grimaced, eyes narrowing at the two girls. "So you two _are_ sleeping together!"

"No we're not!"

* * *

There was a loud continuous knocking on the apartment door. They tried to ignore it for ten minutes, but the visitor was very persistent.

Nao groaned as she covered her head with a pillow. "Why isn't anybody letting me sleep? This is the last time I'm staying at your place," she whined angrily into the pillow. "First it was Mai singing till two in the freaking morning, then your mother visits you at six in the freaking morning, now there's another _freak_ knocking on your door, and we have class soon, I definitely can't sleep in class..." she continued to ramble incoherently.

Natsuki sat up with her hair resembling a bird's nest. She turned to the girl pretending to be asleep.

"Mai, it's your turn." She looked at the unresponsive girl as she waited for a reaction.

"If you didn't sing till two am for the last two days– " she started to complain while repeatedly poked the girl's sides, aware that the girl is ticklish.

Mai quickly slapped away Natsuki's hands. "Ok ok, I'll go!" She got up in her wrinkled uniform and slumped out of the bedroom.

"Thank God, now I can sleep," Nao sighed contentedly into her pillow.

Mai only came back a minute afterwards holding a letter.

"Natsuki, your letter, it's addressed to 'The owner'. Some big dude who looked like one of your body guards gave it to me." Mai gave Natsuki the letter. "I don't get why they wouldn't just put it in the pigeon hole downstairs," she huffed and slumped back down on the pillow next to Nao.

Sighing, Natsuki sat up and ripped open the letter.

"To the owner of apartment 402: Please refrain from activities that create excessive noises, especially after ten thirty pm on a week night. " Natsuki slowly read aloud.

Natsuki glared at Mai while holding the letter, waiting for her to respond.

Mai had her eyes wide open with her mouth as a round 'o'. "Whoops..." she laughed sheepishly while scratching the back of her head. "M-maybe I shouldn't sing till 2am."

After a brief awkward silence, Nao looked up at the two girls. "I wonder which apartment complained," she said, her voice laced with sleep.

"Well, one person can only have two neighbours, one on each side. So it only leaves apartment 403," Natsuki theorised, tapping her chin while she looked at the ceiling. "Miyu is apartment 401, I think."

"I should go apologize to room 403, but that guy looked really scary. Like a wrestler for lions or something."

Natsuki thought for a moment. "Yeah, it would be pretty dangerous for girls to go to a guy's apartment."

"Yeah let's just leave 403 lion wrestler alone, I promise to stop singing by ten thirty."

Natsuki smiled at the red headed girl. "Is that what we're calling my neighbour now? Lion wrestler?"

Mai laughed and blushed from embarrassment. "I'm obviously not thinking clearly, let's go back to sleep."

* * *

Natsuki opened her locker to letters falling to her feet. She picked one up by her feet in confusion and saw that most of them had her name and heart stickers. Sighing, she collected the pile.

"Good morning Kuga-san!" A couple of girls greeted shyly in a group.

Natsuki raised an eyebrow, wondering what on earth was going on.

"Good morning– "

The girls didn't wait for a response and ran away squealing. Natsuki gaped, wondering why in the world they would run away before she could even finish a greeting.

_What on earth just happened? That was so rude! _She thought as she continued to pick up the letters.

"Konnichiwa Natsuki-chan!" Some boys approached her, all blushing. Around eight guys stood around hopefully.

Natsuki grimaced, realised that half of them were from her class. She frowned at the honorific.

"Natsuki-oneesama!" Another group of girls approached.

_Oh my, God, _thought Natsuki._ This cannot be happening! _ _Perhaps Mai was right about the fan girls._

Before she could turn around to glare and yell, somebody stood protectively in front of her.

"Did you guys forget your manners?" a deep voice hissed at the group of people. His black hair was short and spiky and the rest of the kendo club stood nearby. "What have I said about approaching the _ice princess_?"

The boys in front of him genuinely looked frightened.

Natsuki grimaced, hoping that 'ice princess' wasn't another nickname for her, 'onee-sama' and 'Natsuki-chan' was enough for one morning.

"N-no Masashi-san" the group of boys stammered. "W-We will go now." They hastily ran back to class.

"A-Are you okay?" he stuttered and turned around to face Natsuki, eyes full of concern.

"Takeda you're back!" Natsuki smiled at him as he blushed.

"Yes I am! I missed you, why haven't you texted me back?" He pouted, face still very pink. He leaned down and helped her pick up the letters.

"Sorry! I have been so busy lately with moving out," Natsuki stared at his face worriedly. "Do you have a fever? Your face is really red."

"I-I'm fine!" he stammered as he blushed a deeper shade of red. "Wait, you moved out?"

Natsuki nodded as he looked at her in concern.

"Natsuki, you're only fourteen... Isn't that illegal?"

Natsuki briefly explained her situation as they walked towards their classroom.

"You have more blind dates?" Takeda hissed through his teeth, looking horror struck. "That's just unfair! And it's so weird that Miyu-san basically lives with you!"

He looked so genuinely upset that Natsuki was glad she had such a friend.

"Yeah and the one yesterday that tried to kiss me– "

"Tried to kiss you?!" he raised his voice, his eyes narrowed and had his fists clenched.

Natsuki nodded and glared while recalling the bad memory. They both looked so upset that people in the corridor parted ways for them as they walked to class.

* * *

"Takeda is staring at you again," the girl behind Natsuki whispered as the teacher taught class.

Natsuki rolled her eyes and pointed to the guy sitting in front of her. "He's probably staring at Tate, I told you, he's gay!" she whispered back furiously.

Nao frowned at how incredibly dense her friend was being.

"Why would he be gay if he calls you his ice princess?" she asked persistently as she gave her the why-are-you-so-stupid look. "And Tate sits all the way over there."

"What ice prin– "

Her question was cut off by a loud siren emitting from her pocket, the loud ringtone reserved only for her mother.

She realised everybody was looking at her as the teacher 'ahem'ed loudly, looking very displeased from being disturbed in class.

"Don't you need to get that, Miss Kuga?"

Even though the teacher looked furious, he wouldn't confiscate her phone, otherwise it would be Saeko calling him instead, which he would rather not relive again.

"Yes, sorry Sensei." Natsuki quickly got up from her seat as she mouthed to Nao 'tell me later'.

She walked out of the classroom and closed the sliding door.

Bringing her phone to her ear, she was about to say hello until–

"I know you love to beat up your suitors, but why did you have to send Murasaki-san to the police station?" her mother screeched furiously through the phone. Natsuki winced and held the phone away from her ear.

Natsuki was genuinely confused; she didn't remember calling the police. "Who's Murasaki-san? I honestly don't–"

"I know you're doing that to annoy me. We only talked about him this morning! He's the suitor. Now his father is furious at me. He's one of our business partners you know!"

Natsuki smirked; she didn't give a damn about business partners. All their kids were the same.

"I'm sure I've pissed off all of your business partners from those blind dates." She drawled happily while she leaned on the wall. "I wasn't the one who sent him to the police. Plus that asshole tried to kiss me–"

"He tried to kiss you?" Her mother interrupted with a squeal, not bothering to reprimand her daughter's language.

Natsuki didn't like the sound of the squeal.

"Yes and–"

Her mother quickly interrupted. "You thanked him that night instead of beating him up. You stayed for more than fifteen minutes _and_ he tried to kiss you," she babbled excitedly.

Natsuki could hear her mother clapping her hands on the other side of the phone.

"Then you met him in the supermarket. This must be fate!"

Feeling an oncoming panic attack, she took a deep breath.

"No," she said firmly, she stopped leaning on the wall and struggled to explain herself. "I thanked him for supporting our company–"

"He tried to kiss you and you didn't beat him up!" Her mother concluded happily while Natsuki face palmed in horror.

"That's because of the contract– "

"You're going on another date tomorrow with him! Two pm, bye, Na-chan!"

Natsuki almost threw her phone at the wall when she realised her mother hung up. No wonder she had such a short temper, her mother made sure of it.


	6. Chapter 6 - The red string of fate

**A/N: **

**Thanks to the reviewer crazyfan, who somehow motivated me to update my fic during my excruciating law lecture.**

**I mainly combined chapter 6 & 7,**** so this ch is rather long, around 9.5k words. I also cut some character development out, I may add it in later on if I feel the story doesn't flow. Honestly, I'm feeling rather nervous combining the chapters. ****  
**

**This story is not about love at first sight. Its about fate. Fate is how you meet your best friend 4 times in different bathrooms on the same day.**

**All mistakes are mine, this chapter is still subject to change and still needs proof reading. Feel free to point out any major mistakes. **

**Anyway, thank you all for your reviews. Its interesting to see what people think.**

******Disclaimer: I do not own Mai Hime/Mai Otome**

* * *

Chapter 6

By S

* * *

Nao was lying comfortably on the beige sofa, reading the latest fashion magazine. She flipped through the pages lazily taking note of the different styles. The cold breeze from the fan gently cooled her from the weather, along with the lovely air conditioning in Natsuki's apartment.

"Dammit!" Natsuki muttered at the screen as her character died for the nth time. She was furiously pressing the buttons with a vengeance and yelling into the headset microphone.

Nao peered at the raging girl, aware that something bad has happened ever since they got back from class. The girl had been muttering 'stupid' and 'contract' and glaring at whoever said hi to her, then as soon as she got home, she turned the gaming console on and is still shooting at zombies. The constant yelling at the television was a bit too distracting for Nao.

Even if Natsuki's apartment _did_ have perfect air conditioning (something Nao's dormitory didn't have) she felt uncomfortable with Natsuki being so out of character.

"Okay..." Nao drawled out the word. She took a hesitant breath. She really didn't like talking about feelings, but Natsuki had been yelling at the television for too long, and Mai was working at her part time job.

"Natsuki, what the hell is up your ass?" Nao blurted out and instantly regretted her poor wording; she bit her lower lip and pretended to look at the magazine to cover her embarrassment.

She really hated talking about feelings, she wished she asked Mai instead.

"Ugh!" Natsuki exclaimed, as she threw her PS3 controller on the ground. She turned around and glared at Nao. "My mother called me and said I have another date tomorrow!"

Nao raised one of her eyebrows and resisted the urge to laugh, not wanting to further agitate the angry girl. She was also confused, why was she so annoyed over a date?

"So... why are you so pissed? I thought you're used to it already."

"He's the douche bag from two days ago!"

Nao gaped in shock. "You're having two dates? _You're meeting the same person?"_

Really, she was in shock. Natsuki had never met the same suitor twice.

"Yes, ugh!" Natsuki turned back to the screen and continued to mutter colourful curses.

Nao went back to inattentively flip pages as she pondered how to help her friend.

* * *

Sometime after the 5th magazine, painted her nails, Nao shot up in excitement, got out her phone, and speed dialled Mai.

"Mai, can you give me Takeda's number?" Nao asked innocently though the phone as she checked her fingernails, aware that Natsuki is glancing back curiously.

"_Why do you need it...?"_ Nao could hear shuffling of papers on the other end of the phone._ "Hold on, I'll text you the number. You better tell me about what you're scheming tonight."_

Nao smirked, pleased that Mai has caught on so quickly.

"Who said I'm scheming?" she asked in a teasing tone, and looked at Natsuki, who glared back suspiciously at her.

"_Whatever, just tell me tonight after work."_

Nao smiled wickedly at the new text message, and started typing out a message to the new number.

"What the hell are you planning?" Natsuki asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing at the smug girl.

Nao snapped her phone shut, and grinned at Natsuki's worried face. "You may thank me tomorrow," she sang nonchalantly and went back to her magazine.

* * *

The next day, the trio continued to sit inside the classroom due to the weather. It was still scorching, but at least today no fan girls were squealing.

In fact, they were really quiet.

"What the hell is up with those girls now?" Nao spoke full of distain while staring at the group of girls sitting next to them. She took a bite of her lunch and gestured at her friends sitting opposite her to look.

Natsuki and Mai both peered at the group of dejected girls. Their heads were lying on top of the desks, looking noticeably heartbroken.

"I think they couldn't find Fujino-senpai today–" Mai laughed, looking very amused, causing the group of girls to collectively glare at her. "Oh, woops sorry," She stopped instantly and apologised to the girls.

Natsuki was bewildered that an upperclassman could somehow make a group of girls so miserable.

"Whatever, they're a crazy bunch of girls. Why are they so obsessed with an upperclassman?" Nao snorted in disbelief and rolled her eyes, ignoring the dirty looks.

Mai started to get upset. "Hey! What's so wrong about being obsessed with an upperclassman?" she huffed and scowled at her friend.

"Being obsessed is wrong! Going upstairs everyday to mob a poor girl constantly without giving them the time to breathe! It's _stalking_ and it's _illegal_," Nao argued back passionately, specifically glancing at the group of eight boys across the room. The boys had the decency to look slightly guilty from Nao's outburst.

Natsuki got bored of the usual bickering and looked out the window, enjoying the gentle breeze. Her curiosity peaked when she saw a figure around the trees. She looked down and saw a girl sitting alone under and leaning against the trees. Narrowing her eyes she wondered why that girl looked so familiar.

The colour of her hair hovered between blonde and light brown under the sun light.

She stared in wonder, watching the hair flow against the wind.

In that moment, the girl looked up and looked straight at Natsuki, with red velvet eyes, and gave her a small smile. Natsuki blushed, embarrassed that she had been caught staring, but unable to remove the eye contact.

"Natsuki, what are you staring at?" Mai's voice burst the bubble that Natsuki was in, effectively bringing her back to reality.

"S-sorry what?" Natsuki stammered with her face heating up.

Nao watched with a raised eyebrow. "Are you okay? You're heating up," she asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "Did you see something scary?" She quickly looked outside the window.

"No, don't look!" yelled Natsuki, she quickly grabbed Nao's arm and pulled her back to her seat. Nao looked at her incredulously and even more disturbed.

Mai looked equally confused. "...I'm definitely looking." She placed down her lunch box and looked out the window before Natsuki could stop her.

"Hmm, I don't see anybody."

Natsuki looked out the window, feeling slightly disappointed and relieved that the girl left already.

Then her eyes widened in realisation.

_It's her! The girl from the supermarket! She goes to our school!_

She grinned ear to ear, causing her friends to share a worried glance.

* * *

Around two pm, Natsuki's driver came to pick her up from her last class.

"Sensei," The driver gave a curt bow, "Sorry, I am here to pick Natsuki ojou-sama for business matters."

The rest of class looked impressed, gossiping amongst themselves, wondering what kind of important business required Natsuki to get out of class. Natsuki rolled her eyes while Nao snorted from behind her.

_Since when were blind dates part of business matters?_

"Satou-san," Natsuki greeted the balding butler with a bow, as she walked out of the classroom, the old driver only looked at her with a bemused expression.

"Ojou-sama, please don't look so angry at me. It's not my fault your mother is making you go to these blind dates."

Natsuki huffed, "Does Maria obaa-san know I'm going on blind dates?"

Satou smiled, eyes twinkling. "There's a reason we called these 'business matters', ojou-sama. Your mother labelled your hourly time table, and _might have_ told your grandmother that you had 'business matters' at least once a week."

Being the heiress of HIMES Corporation, Natsuki has lived by a rigorous timetable for the majority of her life, her family checked her timetable to find out her whereabouts. Despite moving out of her mother's house, she still had tutoring to attend, so the timetable was still being updated weekly.

She smirked in triumph. Her grandmother always thought her mother to be delusional, to make Natsuki date at such a young age. If her mother managed to manipulate Natsuki to attend blind dates, then Natsuki will make it as difficult as possible.

Starting by telling her grandmother.

"Make sure my grandmother finds out. And maybe mention to her that her 'precious granddaughter' had suitors assaulting her in the supermarket. I'm sure she will find the evidence."

* * *

Natsuki reluctantly walked into the empty restaurant, aware that the blonde man was already in there.

Of course, she was stupid to think that she would 'thank' Nao today. Yesterday she was sure that the red haired girl would have schemed something to get her out of this date. But no, whenever she asked the girl about her plan, she only smirked and said 'You'll thank me later'. Afterwards, Natsuki couldn't stand seeing that smirk and gave up asking.

Natsuki sat opposite the blonde man, arms folded and looked more upset than usual. She was in uniform still, and gave him a menacing glare.

"Kuga-san, I'm so glad you're willing to see me again!" the blonde man happily exclaimed.

Natsuki held back the urge to barf, and decided not to say anything. The contract told her not to curse or swear at her blind dates. But at the very moment she wondered if any of this would be worth it.

"You're so cute when you're shy–" the blonde man cooed and watched Natsuki narrow her eyes, "I was so happy when your mother called and said you wanted to see me again!"

Natsuki rolled her eyes and mentally counted to ten, while envisioning the calming sunset.

"Let us order some food, you must be hungry, yes?"

"Yeah, whatever is good," she dully replied, trying to keep her anger in check.

Perhaps food would shut him up.

"Oh how cute! You wanted me to pick for you!"

Natsuki resisted the urge to punch his face, and looked out the window.

She widened her eyes as her eyes rested on a tawny haired girl with a lilac sun dress, walking on the other side of the road.

_She's the girl from the supermarket!_

"Natsuki-sama, who the hell is this ape?" A deep voice intruded her thoughts, snapping her back to reality; reluctantly, she pulled her eyes away from the girl. She looked up and saw Takeda standing next to her, glaring at the blonde man sitting opposite her.

She was unsure whether to ask why he was here, or why he was wearing a full on ridiculous mafia outfit.

Murasaki-san looked visibly frightened at Takeda's appearance. It didn't help that Takeda had a cross shaped scar on his cheek - perhaps making him look extra intimidating, or extra ridiculous.

Natsuki cleared her throat to get their attention. "Oh um –this is Yamamoto–"

"My name is Murasaki," the blonde corrected her and looked disappointed at her poor memory.

Takeda snorted and smirked evilly before propping a leg up on the spare chair and looked down at the blonde man.

"Ok listen up _Yamamoto-san,_" he hissed as Murasaki protested, and towered over him. "Kuga-sama over here is not interested in you. I know what you tried to do yesterday, how dare you try to lay a hand on her? You're lucky you got away with it."

Murasaki paled and opened his mouth to speak and glanced at Natsuki with new-found fear, but Takeda cut him off and continued with his rant.

"You see this scar here?" He tapped his cheek, "Yes this terrible scar, this lady over there gave it to me." and pointed at Natsuki.

Natsuki's eyes widened in silent protest as she gaped like a fish, she didn't remember giving Takeda that scar. She thought it was because he fell onto the edge of a table.

"So if you know what's good for you, I suggest you tell all your other rivals that Natsuki-san is unavailable! In fact, if you ask some of your rivals you will find out she did beat up most of them. She is vicious and will beat the shit out of you – like she has done to me," Takeda exclaimed in mock horror, with one leg up on the seat, looking very much like a part of the mafia.

Natsuki couldn't help but stare at him dumbfounded, and feel slightly offended.

Somehow the message got to Murasaki, and he quickly got up, all ready to flee.

"Oh, and if you so much breathe a word to another soul about this," He pointed to his cheek. "She will hunt you down. And give you one that's much worse. Good luck buddy." He made a knife cutting motion at his neck, and Murasaki paled further.

And at that, her blind date ran out of the door.

There was a brief silence as Natsuki looked up at Takeda in bewilderment. He wore a big shit eating grin before sitting opposite Natsuki. "Okay, what shall we eat?" he asked casually, pretending nothing had happened. Natsuki looked at him with raised eyebrows and folded arms.

They looked at each other for a moment and started laughing.

* * *

Shizuru sat down on the sofa in her apartment, feeling particularly uneasy. She took a sip of tea to calm her mental state and recalled what happened today. After realising the girl she saved yesterday went to her school, she was happy beyond relief. She was sure that the girl recognised her when they smiled at each other.

Then her good mood turned sour after school. She was just walking home from another supermarket trip–since the one yesterday wasn't so productive– and then she saw her again.

For some weird reason that girl was at a date with the same creepy blonde man from yesterday! Shizuru was certain she got him arrested at the supermarket.

And just as she was about to go rescue the poor girl, somebody else turned up–a person cosplaying in a bad Yakuza outfit. Thankfully, he didn't look like he was danger to the girl. He turned up and somehow got the blonde to leave.

But that didn't explain why Shizuru felt so uneasy. The impending knot in her stomach only got worse when he sat down and started laughing with the girl. The surge of anger she felt was unexplainable. As a result she quickly walked home and skipped tea ceremony class while feeling unreasonably upset.

There was a timid knock on the door and Shizuru got up, immediately knowing who it was.

"Reito-san! Come in! Make yourself comfortable." Shizuru couldn't help but feel happy with the distraction from her thoughts. She opened the door and quickly went to get another cup of tea.

"I trust that you are settling well?" He smiled as he placed his bag down, took his shoes off and walked towards the kitchen table.

Shizuru placed the cup of tea on the kitchen table as they both sat down. "Yes, yes. Apart from annoying loud neighbours, I think I'm doing quite well."

Reito looked at her with sympathetic eyes and took a sip of the tea. "I hope its decent noise. Not R18, if you know what I mean." He teased with a wink.

Shizuru looked abashed, and quickly waved off the comment. "Of course not, Reito-kun! It's karaoke," she sighed and sipped her tea.

"On a working night?"

"Yup."

"That's absolutely terrible!"

"I know right..." she sighed again, feeling thankful that the boy was there for her to rant to...except without her actually ranting.

They fell into a comfortable silence as Reito looked at her with worried eyes.

"I missed this," he whispered and sighed contentedly at the girl opposite him.

Shizuru grinned and peeked with one eye at the boy. "Missed me?" she teased as she closed her eyes and enjoyed her tea.

"You know I meant the tea." He grinned.

"Yeah, I presumed so."

* * *

"So...why are you here?" Natsuki asked with her mouth full of chicken. After Murasaki left, they both chatted about video games then decided to eat dinner.

Takeda blushed as he quickly averted his eyes. "Um..." He anxiously fiddled with his fork in the pasta. "Nao told me to come."

Natsuki raised her eyebrows, feeling slightly happy that Nao didn't get her into trouble this time. She gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank god, I was worried that–"

"She said we should date," he blurted out, cutting off Natsuki in mid sentence.

Perhaps Nao _did_ get her into trouble again.

Natsuki gaped and slightly panicked before her face flushed red. "What? I really don't –" she spluttered and quickly averted her eyes.

_Nao wouldn't possibly do that to her!_

"Just think it over Natsuki!" He leaned forward and grabbed one of her hands, she dropped her fork in a panic and tried to pull away. He grabbed firmly and looked into her eyes.

"Please Natsuki, think of what I can do for you. You won't have to go on dates any more, I'll be able to protect your reputation and keep you away from crazy people."

"B-but I..."

"I already keep most of the crazy people away from you at school. You know that, right?"

"Takeda..." Natsuki said in a sad voice, she looked at his hand on top of hers, and then at his pleading face.

"Natsuki, just date me. If you ever meet somebody you truly love I will let you go. Just let me protect you from crazy people, and from your mother," he mumbled the remark about her mother.

She met his eyes for a while and felt a strong surge of guilt. "I can't do that to you. I can't hold back your happiness by doing something like that for me. You're my friend, and we've known each other our whole lives, I can't do that to you. I don't even like you that way, and I certainly don't need any more protecting, "she said stubbornly. She had enough of people trying to protect her. For goodness sake, she had guards twenty-four seven!

He looked at her with a bitter smile. "I-I will be fine, it will be worth it," his voice cracked towards the end as he held on tightly to Natsuki's hand.

He looked away as if gaining back his courage. "Just give me a chance," he said more firmly with determination.

"Takeda I can't –" Natsuki felt really bad, she hated rejecting people, she hardly made any friends. As vain as it sounds, they either wanted her beauty or money. Takeda was different; he was one of her best friends. If they dated, their friendship will eventually be ruined. And to be honest, Takeda was too much like her sister Alyssa.

"I'm gay," Takeda blurted out. "It will be fine. You know how homophobic my parents are, you can be my gay beard. We will both benefit from this relationship. It - it wouldn't hurt me."

The hand covering hers didn't feel so heavy any more.

Natsuki sighed and shook her head. For a moment he looked so serious that she completely forgot about his preferences.

"Takeda, just let me think this over okay?" she asked softly.

He smiled gently and released her hand. "Thank you."

After dinner she immediately went to look for the girl who caused all the trouble.

* * *

"_Yuuki Nao!_" Natsuki screamed into the red-haired girl's dormitory as she flung the doors open.

How dare Nao manipulate Takeda to save her from a date?

She didn't bother taking off her shoes and stormed into the dorm. "How could you do this to Takeda?!" she yelled as she turned into Nao's bedroom.

Instead of finding Nao in her room, on the bed was a short haired brunette, wearing close to nothing, making out with a guy from her class.

"Oh dear, God, I'm so sorry!"

Blushing profusely, she quickly averted her eyes and ran back out the door.

"W-wait Kuga san!" The bedroom door flung open again and the girl grabbed Natsuki's arm, to stall her.

"Yes?" she stammered as she looked anywhere except for the girl standing in front of her, who was only covered in Nao's blanket.

"It's me Akane. P-Please don't tell the executive team about me and Kazu-kun," she asked timidly with her shaking hands. "I don't want to get kicked out..."

"Yes, yes, yes that's fine, I won't tell anybody. I won't tell Nao that you guys did... _things_ in her bed." she blurted out in a rush, hoping to get as far away as possible.

Akane flushed at the comment. "Y-yes. I don't think she will be happy about that. Thanks." She slowly let go of Natsuki's arms and looked away.

"I-I should go."

Natsuki broke the awkward silence and she quickly ran out of the dormitory room, making a mental note to give back Nao her dorm key.

* * *

At the corridor of her apartment, she saw a tall man with jet black hair leaving room 403 - The room that had been making complaints about Mai's singing. She noted that he was wearing one of their school uniforms.

"Hey!" Natsuki called out to get his attention.

He smiled a toothy grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "How may I help you?" he drawled in an Osaka accent.

Natsuki hesitated and wondered why Mai said the letter carrier looked like one of her body guards. As far as she was concerned, this boy looked too flimsy to be a bodyguard.

"My name is Natsuki Kuga and I am your neighbour." She pointed at her apartment. The guy only looked amused and smiled, waiting for her to continue.

"Look, I'm very sorry about the noise lately. I'll make sure we don't do it again after 10:30pm," Natsuki sincerely apologised and gave a deep bow, something her grandmother would be so proud of.

She waited for his reply, but instead, he stood there silently. So when she looked up, she was surprised that he looked quite shocked and confused.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I didn't mind it that much. But thank you." He eyed her uniform up and down and left without saying goodbye.

Natsuki felt strangely violated by how the boy leered at her. She gaped in disbelief, wondering why her neighbour was so rude to just walk off without saying goodbye.

_What a creepy guy, I shouldn't have bothered apologising – he obviously lacked manners. _

Natsuki huffed and went to open her apartment door, but was surprised that it was already open. Mai flew at her, grabbed her arm, and spoke in ridiculous speed.

"How-do-you-know-him?"

"...Huh?"

"The guy that just left! How do you know him? I saw you talking to him. You must introduce me to him. I see him at school but I never get to talk to him. I think he's dating Fujino-senpai since they're always together. Oh my god, Natsuki! Do you think he came to see me? What if–"

"Wait, calm down!" Natsuki quickly shouted to cut off Mai's constant ramble, amazed that she somehow understood the whole thing.

"He's our neighbour! I saw him come out of 403. I apologised for your _singing_ by the way." She glared at the girl before she went to close the front door.

Mai looked horrified.

"Oh my, God! Please don't tell me you said my name... and yesterday morning it wasn't him that gave us the letter!"

Natsuki's eyebrows shot to her hairline. Apparently she apologised to a complete stranger.

"Really?"

Mai nodded.

They both went to sit on the sofa in silence.

"Maybe he's dating the lion wrestler guy?" Natsuki offered as she looked at Mai, who looked horror struck and speechless. "And they live together? Like a gay couple? I heard it's pretty popular in the States–"

"No, don't say that!"

Natsuki raised an eyebrow at the blushing girl, then she 'ooh'ed in realisation.

"So... this is the senpai you've been so obsessed about."

Mai was full on red and covered her face in mortification with both hands. Natsuki sighed, rolled her eyes and gave her a comforting pat on the back.

"It's okay. You can come by more often and see him."

Mai nodded but continued to blush into her hands.

Natsuki sat for a while then remembered an important thing. "Mai, wheres Nao? I need to talk to her about Takeda."

Mai looked up and looked at her curiously, eager to change the subject. "Oh, you should go out with him. He's gay, it'll be perfect. Nao is helping her mother right now at work, she told me everything last night though."

"But the contract says marriage..."

"Natsuki you are 14. You don't get married till you're 18. That's four years of freedom for you, plus–you can cancel it. Do you honestly want your mother knocking on your door at 6am every day to talk about your blind dates?"

"Hell, no."

"Exactly, now go text Takeda and say that you will date him."

Natsuki grimaced and took her phone out. "Mai? I don't even like him that way." Natsuki hesitated.

Mai gave a soft smile and gently placed her hand on top of Natsuki's. "Don't worry, he said he's gay, even if Nao doesn't think so."

Natsuki stared back, silently wondering what that meant.

* * *

When Nao and Mai asked her where she was going, she couldn't possibly tell them that she needed to stalk. No, that would be extremely awkward and weird. So, she made up a lame excuse and told them that she would go join the Karate club.

Yes, it was probably _considered_ stalking, Nao _did_ say it was illegal. But that didn't stop Natsuki from sitting under the shade.

More specifically, the girl from yesterday sat under the same shade.

She still felt pretty disappointed when the girl didn't turn up at all during lunch break.

_Plus it's not like she always sat here. I only saw her once._

No, Natsuki was sure she definitely wasn't stalking; this was just a hopeful friendly encounter.

Stalking in high school couldn't possibly be illegal anyway, it's not like they could have any proof. More importantly, she needed to _thank_ the girl for saving her at the supermarket.

Yes, she had to thank the girl, this most definitely could not be considered as stalking.

As Natsuki leaned against the tree, feeling the gentle breeze caress her face, she looked up at the blue sky, eyes closed in content.

Then her eyes snapped open in realisation.

_Mai and Nao could probably see her sitting here if they looked out the window!_

Feeling extremely paranoid, she looked up and double checked her classroom window, relieved that nobody had been looking at her. She quickly scrambled to her feet, smoothed out her skirt and made her way to the karate dojo.

She reasoned that if she joined the club, Nao and Mai wouldn't suspect anything.

* * *

This was entirely Haruka's fault. The girl was absent with a cold, so Shizuru actually had to do her class representative work. As a result she stayed five minutes late after class, and ended up in this unfortunate situation.

Shizuru was certain that they arrived extra early so that she didn't have time to escape.

"Onee-sama, would you like another cup of tea?" A girl eagerly held out a pot of tea, while another girl was fanning Shizuru with a textbook.

Shizuru grimaced inwardly, she gave a lovely smile reserved especially for fan girls and spoke in a pleasant voice.

"That would be lovely. Ookini."

They seem pleased with the answer and then fought over 'who gets to pour onee-sama her tea'.

As they poured her the cup of tea, Shizuru wondered who else could come and save her. She thought about asking Reito, but he only soaked up the attention like a lecherous teenage boy.

"Onee-sama, where have you been the past week?" a teal haired girl demanded.

Shizuru noted that the girl is the self proclaimed leader of the fan girls. A girl named Tomoe, who caused Shizuru much grief, always managing to find her hiding spots in the past.

The other girls looked at her in disbelief, horrified that she would dare ask her about her private life.

_Escaping from you lot, _Shizuru silently mused.

"Miss me, did you?" Shizuru teased instead, easily avoiding the question.

"Yes we have, onee-sama!"

"Would you like a shoulder massage, onee-sama?"

Shizuru pondered for a moment. Her neck was slightly sore from lack of sleep so she happily accepted.

The girls fanned her and offered back massages. Shizuru thought that this was probably not as bad as it seemed, at least the girls were kind of cute.

* * *

"Why would you join the karate club?" Nao asked suspiciously when Natsuki got back from her lunch break. Both Mai and Nao went to the classroom door to confront her weird behaviour.

"We're black belts in _three_ different martial arts disciplines and you go join the karate club?"

"I...uh... I need to uh..." Natsuki spluttered, "I need to build a decent resume for my future!"

Mai arched one of her eyebrows. "You're the heiress to The HIMES Corporation and you're worried about your resume?"

"Yes! Well, of course– exactly!"

Mai exchanged bewildered looks with Nao–who shrugged indifferently.

"Well okay... your lying is very... convincing," Nao drawled dully as Natsuki spluttered more protests, "but whatever, this is more interesting. Go look at your desk."

"My desk?" Natsuki walked towards her desk, noticing something big covering it.

"What the-" Natsuki squeaked in horror at the sight. Her usual desk was covered by a giant basket of roses, almost the size of her desk.

"Oh, Kuga-san! Who's the secret admirer?" Her classmates laughed, while the girl classmates giggled in envy.

Natsuki flushed in embarrassment, face palming, and promising that she will kill the idiot who dared to put flowers on her desk.

Mai picked up the card from the basket of roses and gave it her blushing friend. "Well, he called you 'My ice princess' on the card. I think we both know who it is."

Nao stared at the card with an unreadable expression. "Wait, you're seriously dating now?"

Natsuki shuffled nervously, feeling uncomfortable and awkward. "Well... Takeda and I...well I think he wants to... uhh..." Natsuki spluttered more, not noticing how the whole classroom was eerily quiet. She mumbled words like 'dating' and 'yakuza'.

"Dating?!" Nao spat out bitterly, looking at the flowers with disdain. "You guys are dating? Isn't he like ga–"

"Shhh! Nao you can't say that out loud!" Natsuki whispered furiously, quickly muffling Nao's mouth with her hand.

Nao moved the hand off forcibly, "Dating?! Natsuki are you crazy? You have been avoiding blind dates for so many years! Why are you dating _him_?" Her voice was escalating, the other classmates watched in shock at her outburst. Even Mai watched wide eyed.

Natsuki winced, shocked and confused at her best friend's loud outburst. "I - I thought you wanted us together. I mean, it was _your _idea apparently. I even went to look for you last night, where were you?!" Natsuki pursed her lips, deciding not to recall the horrible image she saw on Nao's bed last night, she noticed Akane glancing towards her nervously.

Nao gaped for a second, before giving a heavy sigh. "I was at work! You don't even like him; I only called him to stop your date! I didn't tell you to actually _date him! _I honestly didn't tell him to date you!"

Natsuki stared back sighing heavily, neither agreeing or disagreeing. "I do need him though." Not noticing how Nao looking at her with a confused expression and hurt expression.

"Wait. This is _your _fault," Natsuki accused, glaring at the shorter girl.

"_Please_ elaborate, how is this _my_ fault?" Nao retaliated immediately.

Mai sat down and waited for the impending doom.

"You said your usual 'you'll find out tomorrow' with your annoying smirk! And look what happened!" Natsuki air quoted with her fingers while she watched Nao's smug smirk back at her. "This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you! You told him to date me!"

Nao's smirk completely slipped off her face.

"You wanting to date Takeda isn't even my fault – I never told him to date you! You have your own free will, Natsuki! But obviously you don't know you have one, just like how you let your mother walk all over you!" Nao shot back, while Mai looked at her with a shocked expression.

The three fell into an awkward silence while Natsuki looked as if she had been slapped.

"I do have a free will! Why else do you think I moved out?" Natsuki yelled back.

Nao glared, breathing heavily. "...You! Whatever! Just...just don't get hurt." Nao threw her hands up in defeat and stormed out of the classroom. Mai looked apologetically at Natsuki and told her she'll go check on Nao.

Natsuki couldn't help but feel that her best friend is the one who got hurt, even though she isn't exactly sure of the reason.

* * *

It had been three days since the fight and both Natsuki and Nao were too stubborn to face each other. During lunch, Nao wouldn't be in class, magically disappearing right after the bell rang. Natsuki was equally stubborn, disappearing as well. Poor Mai was left to sit alone in class.

Natsuki sat under the tree outside her classroom building, eating her bento in peace. It was a miracle that not a lot of students knew the spot. It was a patch of grass, surrounded by neatly kept flower beds. The tree provided cool shade from the burning sun.

She sat there pondering if she should try talking to Nao again. As far as she was concerned, the red haired girl was not only hurt, but extremely angry at Natsuki as well.

Natsuki didn't understand – why was Nao so angry? She was the one who always teased her about Takeda.

_Unless of course...maybe Nao has a crush on Takeda?_

_But if she did, why didn't she just say so?_

Natsuki furrowed her eyebrows in frustration, stabbing her sushi in annoyance with her chopsticks, mumbling about how women are too complicated for their own good.

"You shouldn't take your anger out on food, what did the poor thing do to you?"

A familiar melodic voice rang through the air, Natsuki looked up in shock, surprised to see the face she had been searching for the past week.

"You!" Natsuki blurted out in shock to see mirth filled eyes staring at her.

"Yes?" the girl sang as she sat down right next to her, apparently not too conscious about personal space.

"What are you doing here?" Natsuki blurted out again.

She raised an eyebrow before smiling widely back at Natsuki. "I go to school here."

"You're sitting too close to me!"

The girl laughed, while Natsuki looked at the happy expression on the girl's face.

The girl quickly stopped laughing, composing herself before offering a handshake.

"My name is Shizuru," she said and smiled at Natsuki, "you might not remember me but, I've saved you in the supermarket before."

Natsuki stared at her face, feeling slightly confused, "My name is Natsuki, thank you for saving me," she smiled politely back at her, staring back at her velvet gaze, and shaking her hand. "And yes, I remember you."

* * *

Surprisingly, Shizuru found the girl to be quite pleasant. At first, she accidentally sat a bit too close for comfort, half expecting the younger girl to call her 'onee-sama' and move closer, but the girl only leaned back slightly and stared back curiously with her bright green eyes. She expected Natsuki to be similar to all the other rich girls, but then again, rich girls don't grunt in supermarkets while reaching for mayonnaise bottles. As they ate their lunch together, they chatted about what happened in the supermarket.

"So, what happened after you ran off in your heels?"

Natsuki looked away, a pink shade colouring her cheeks.

"I uh – hid in the bathroom."

Shizuru couldn't help but laugh, her response was the last thing she expected, she struggled to stop herself when the girl turned to glare at her.

Recollecting herself, she smiled grimly.

"Okay sorry - but why the bathroom? I looked for you afterwards to see if you were fine."

The girl's glare softened and she mumbled.

"Well... He couldn't possibly stalk me into the women's bathroom," she laughed sheepishly.

Shizuru mentally chastised herself, wondering why she even bothered to ask such an obvious question.

"Good point," Shizuru replied dully, and the two of them fell into an awkward silence.

Shizuru was not used to an interaction like this. More specifically, any type of awkward silences. Most of the time, her fan girls will be so eager to please that they rarely stayed quiet, they either bombard her with questions or run away in fright. Her business partners were usually the same, introducing their products while hoping she would approve.

People were always seeking for her approval.

_Perhaps she doesn't know me. But then again, everybody knows me in this school._

Shizuru grimaced at how incredibly vain that sounded.

"So...what happened to you afterwards?" Natsuki asked her, breaking the silence, with genuine curiosity colouring her eyes.

Shizuru grinned back, "Well, I looked for you," she replied honestly.

She watched the girl look away in embarrassment.

'_You must smile and show that you are in power.' _Her grandfather's voice echoed in her head_._

Her smile faltering, Shizuru diverted her eyes for a split second to recollect herself. She couldn't help but notice the girl glancing at her while raising an eyebrow, making her feel uncomfortably exposed.

"I called the police afterwards, I hope he got arrested. After all, I wasn't sure if he was still stalking you."

Natsuki blushed and looked away again.

"I - I uh, you didn't have to do that. But – thank you."

"You're very welcome; after all, it's not uncommon to stalk a pretty girl."

The girl's expression did not disappoint, her face went bright red and she started spluttering.

"I –...ugh!"

Shizuru couldn't help but laugh out loud again.

"Thanks," The girl huffed and scowled, "My mother called me afterwards though, yelling at me how I got him arrested," Natsuki said, recovering from her embarrassment.

Shizuru winced, "Shouldn't she be glad he didn't do anything to you?"

"I think she was happier that I didn't beat him up this time."

Shizuru raised an eyebrow, "...this time?"

"Oh yes, I beat up the others every other time," The girl gave a smug smirk. "but not all the time," she added quickly.

"Others?!" Shizuru was bewildered how violent this pretty girl was, she looked so fragile.

"Oh suitors... I go on these blind dates. I don't even know why I'm telling you this. We hardly know each other."

Shizuru was too shocked to recognise that she was being rude and intrusive.

"You go on blind dates?! But you're so young!"

"Well, yeah." The girl grimaced and bit her bottom lip, as if unsure how to proceed with the conversation.

Shizuru suddenly remembered the boy with spiky black hair in a yakuza uniform, she mentally debated asking about him, whether or not if he was her boyfriend.

But really, it wasn't any of her business to ask. And why should she ask? She only just met her. And if she asked, Natsuki would definitely know that she saw her at the cafe. What if Natsuki found her creepy for stalking her? She didn't actually stalk her on purpose, she just happened to pass by the cafe.

But she was so curious. Shizuru hadn't found anybody or anything this interesting for a really long time.

Or anybody this _different._

"That day in the cafe– " Shizuru started as the school bell rang, interrupting her sentence.

The girl looked curiously at her. "What about the cafe?"

Realising how close they were leaning towards each other, Shizuru quickly moved back, not wanting to make the girl too uncomfortable.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I have to go to class now. It was nice meeting you, Natsuki." Shizuru quickly got up, smoothed her skirt and walked towards her classroom, unaware of how the emerald eyes were gazing at her back.

* * *

Natsuki sat down at her desk, ignoring the guilt in the stomach caused by Mai's glaring. She and Nao were still in a 'fight' so Mai had to sit alone with the fan girls. Natsuki sat resting her head against her palm, still thinking about the conversation she had with the girl she met today.

_I've never seen a girl eat her lunch like grandma Maria, nobody ever sits that straight,._ Natsuki mused.

_Wait...what did she mean by cafe?_

_Did she realise that I was looking at her in the cafe?_

_Oh god, maybe she thinks I'm weird for looking at her!_

"Ok class, settle down please." The chatter quietened as they realised their usual history teacher was absent. Instead, a woman with long red hair came into class in a track suit.

"Your history teacher is sick today, I will be taking over for him."

As mature as any 14 year old boy would be, the boys started giggling. "Do you have a boyfriend sensei?" one of them asked.

The substitute teacher smirked and winked. "No. I'm single right now." Then she muttered under her breath, "...since your history teacher is too blind to see me."

"Sugiura-sensei?" Mai said in shock.

"Yes? How do you know my..." Midori's eyes widened in shock, "Oh God, not you three again!"

Natsuki sighed heavily into both of her hands.

"Natsuki-chan! Oh gosh, is Takeda-chan in this class too?"

People in the class were sniggering. "Sensei, they're dating now."

Natsuki was too shocked to protest, while Takeda blushed and averted his eyes.

Midori grimaced. "Well, I hope they can stop fainting together. Last time they did, they both got me fired."

Natsuki groaned as her fellow classmates started getting excited at the new gossip. She looked at Nao, who seemed to be glaring at Takeda with a murderous look.

"_Sensei, what do you mean they got you fired?"_

"_They fainted together?"_

"_Wow, they're so in love!"_

"_Maybe she helped them elope! That's why she got fired!"_

Natsuki could only listen in horror, while Nao gave a really loud snort behind her back.

Midori clapped her hands. "Okay, shush! I'm about to start teaching history class. Please turn to page 183 of your text books. Today, we'll talk about folklore."

Natsuki turned to page 183, giving a double take when she read the title.

"Okay, today we'll talk about the folklore, red string of fate."

To everybody's surprise, Nao's hand immediately shot up to the air. "Sensei?"

"Yes, Yuuki-san?"

"I thought this was a history class."

Midori sighed, "Yes it is."

"Then _why_ in the world are we studying about folklore? It's not even real. History is meant to be based on events that happened," Nao argued angrily, Mai stared at her in surprise.

Midori scratched the back of her head, "Well, it's in the text book... And you should know, most folklore is derived from bits of history, so I can say it is an important part of history."

Nao pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, before giving a small glance to Natsuki.

Midori watched the exchange with a curious expression, "Okay, now that there are no more problems let's get back on topic... Red String of fate... This famous folklore is extremely popular in Asian countries, where soul mates are tied to each other by an invisible string, called red string of fate. "

Nao snorted, and Midori raised an eyebrow at her. "You have something to say, Yuuki-san?"

"How can you even say they're tied by a red string if you can't even see it? As far as I know, it could be yellow, blue, green..."

The rest of the class giggled.

Midori sighed in annoyance, "Well, they say the string is red, symbolising blood and life, but mostly because the colour red is an extremely powerful colour, it's the colour of fire, a powerful colour used in shrines for their talismans and also used by exorcists. It's a colour that is hard to break. They say everything in life is predetermined, so I assume the red symbolises its certainty. Apparently, if you use your 'third eye' you can see the string in red."

Nao's eyes narrowed, "That makes absolutely no sense, and we only have two eyes."

The rest of the class murmured in agreement.

"Well its folklore, it's not meant to make sense. Sometimes you have to be more open minded, Yuuki-san."

"Then it shouldn't even be in the history book! There is no scientific proof!" Nao complained.

Midori ignored her, giving Nao a dismissive wave. "Anyways, the story goes like this, there was a boy in a village, who threw a rock at a girl, scarring the poor girl. Then years later in an arranged marriage, he ended up with the same girl, and then he found out that he threw a rock at her before. You can read more about it in the text book."

Tate looked up, confused, "Are you telling us to throw rocks at our girlfriends?"

"No,_ please _don't throw rocks at your girlfriends. I'm saying that, fate works in a funny way, the person who's predetermined to be in your life, will always somehow come back to you in your life, in one way or another. In fact, you might keep running into the same person before realising years later that the person is your soul mate."

Natsuki put her hand up. "Sensei?"

"Yes, Natsuki-chan?"

Natsuki scowled at the nickname.

"Can we cut the red string of fate?"

Midori smiled, "That's the beauty of it. The string can never be cut. No matter what you and your soul mate go through, you two will always be tied together, and end up together in one way or another, either in this life or another. But then again this is just folklore; it might be true and might not be true."

Nao snorted again and looked out the window while the other girls in the classroom swooned at how romantic the story was.

Natsuki looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, wondering why Nao was even more upset than she was; the red string of fate affected her life more than hers, even if it wasn't real.

"Sensei?"

"Yes Tate?"

"I'm curious, what if the two people tied by the string are of the same gender?"

The whole classroom went eerily quiet.

One of the guys in the classroom snorted, "Bro, Tate, are you like, gay?"

Yuichi flushed, "No! I have a girlfriend, I'm not gay at all."

"Oh, for real? You don't seem to treat Shiho like a girlfriend, no offence. Last time at the shrine you weren't very nice to her. Sorry man, don't want you checking me out in the locker rooms."

Yuuichi scowled, "Even if I was gay, I wouldn't be checking you out in the locker rooms," he shot back angrily.

"Chill! I was just joking. You know, if you're this angry it means you're actually gay."

As Yuuichi stood up angrily, Midori quickly yelled out, "Sit! Kazuya, I don't appreciate your homophobic comments, stay behind for detention today."

Kazuya scoffed and rolled his eyes, but made no further comment.

"As for same gender, I'm not sure actually. The folklore only talks about arranged marriages from hundreds of years ago. But as far as I'm concerned, the soul doesn't have a gender."

The classroom stayed quiet, shocked at the teacher's implications.

"Okay, that's enough for class today! Please read the rest of the chapter and enjoy your day!" As the bell rang, Midori quickly ran out of the classroom.

Natsuki slowly packed her text book in her bag, gathering the courage to apologise to Nao. She was sick of having a fight with her friend; their fights have never lasted this long.

"Natsuki,"

She looked up and saw Takeda standing in front of her desk.

"Yeah?"

"Since we're dating now, do you want to go on a date today?" Takeda asked.

Natsuki went wide-eyed, "What?" As far as she knew, she thought they were _fake_ dating, so real dating was obviously not required.

"Oh, you heard him," Nao laughed bitterly from behind her. "Go on your date with your _boyfriend_, and don't forget about kissing." She scoffed and walked out of the classroom, leaving Mai and Natsuki dumbfounded.

Mai looked shocked, before turning to Natsuki, "I think I should go check up on her."

Natsuki nodded then looked up at Takeda, surprised to see him in a bright shade of red.

"But yeah, how is after school today? It won't be too boring, I promise, we could play some video games and eat pizza. I'll even bring mayonnaise."

Natsuki visibly brightened; maybe this date thing wasn't so bad after all.

"Yeah, sure lets go. I'll ask Alyssa, Miyu, and Mai to come too, and grandma Maria - I haven't seen them for so long!"

Takeda looked horrified for a moment before replying, "Actually, I have kendo practise this afternoon." and ran out of the classroom before saying anything else.

The raven haired girl only stared in confusion.

* * *

Shizuru left class, leaving early to go to her naginata practise, conveniently avoiding her fan girls. As she neared the school gates, somebody loudly called her name.

"Shizuru!"

Shizuru turned around, shocked that the girl she met today was wearing P.E uniform, panting slightly from her run.

"Natsuki?"

The raven-haired girl smiled, looking genuinely happy to see her, and then her lips formed a small smug smirk, "You are skipping class! And here I thought, you and your perfectly-ironed-uniform, you would be the model student. I mean, you even eat like a model student," she said bluntly.

Shizuru huffed playfully, "I _am_ a model student! I'm merely executing a _strategic retreat._" Natsuki rolled her eyes and laughed lightly.

Shizuru crossed her arms and looked at the girl in front of her. "I could say the same about you, why are you the only person running? You are obviously skipping class as well."

Natsuki flipped her hair, and smirked, "No, actually, I'm ahead of my P.E class, they're all struggling to catch up." She glanced behind her, making sure that nobody was in sight.

"And I thought you came here just to see me." Shizuru pouted, watching the girl's face flare up in embarrassment.

"W–What," The girl stuttered, crossing her arms and looking away. "I was running for P.E - This was a coincidence!"

She laughed, deciding not to tease the girl any longer.

Remembering the conversation from lunch, she pursed her lips, contemplating on whether or not if the boy from the cafe was her boyfriend.

Not that it was important or anything.

As she had her little mental argument, she caught Natsuki watching her curiously. Shizuru blushed in embarrassment at being caught in thought.

"Natsuki, that day in the cafe – "

"What about it?" Natsuki replied instantly, looking curious.

Before Shizuru could say anything, she saw a group of her fan girls, panting and struggling with their run. Shizuru grimaced, when she saw the group of girls collectively glare at Natsuki in jealousy.

"Sorry I got to go!" She gave the girl an apologetic glance, receiving a disappointed look from Natsuki. Shizuru hoped to get out of there before the fan girls caught up with her, or they would probably stalk her to her apartment. "I'll see you tomorrow at lunch!"

Natsuki's eyes widened, her cheeks holding a pink tinge.

"L-lunch tomorrow?" Natsuki spluttered in surprise.

As the fan girls got closer, she couldn't formulate a reply and quickly walked out of the school gates. Then she realised what she just said.

She froze, horrified.

_Did I just _demand_ her to eat lunch with me? I only just met her today!_

_She probably had something to do tomorrow –oh, how inconsiderate of me - I basically just forced her to eat lunch with me!_

_Even worse, what if she doesn't turn up tomorrow?_

As she walked in frustration and embarrassment around the school gates, an old man wearing a butler suit called out to her in a kyoto accent.

"Fujino Ojou-sama!"

Shizuru's heart dropped when she saw her driver calling her from the front of the school gates.

"Yamada-san," Shizuru slowed her walk, and gave him a curt nod, as he ran towards her. "Why are you here?"

She instantly felt dread, she hadn't seen her driver since she moved out. If he personally came to find her, there must be only one reason: her grandfather.

The driver bowed deeply, "Your grandfather wishes to see you."


	7. Chapter 7 - Pulling strings

_A/N: I finally finished my exams yay! I'm on holiday now, so I can update regularly. Sorry for the late update, I've bought a textbook for English grammar -sigh- I seriously think there is something wrong with the education system in my country, why didn't they teach us this stuff when I was still in school? After reading some of the text book I decided to rewrite all of ch 1 to 6. Its still the same but it should be easier to read. I might do it again after finishing the textbook. Please point out any major mistakes. Oh, just to clear up any confusion, if you refer to ch 6, Natsuki and Shizuru introduced each other by their first name._

_Once again, thank you for all your reviews, they're very encouraging. _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai Hime/Mai Otome**

* * *

Chapter 7

By S

* * *

Shizuru stared blankly at the driver, "He's not my grandfather. He has made it very clear when I was six: that I was to call him Zachou."

Yamada stared pitifully at the blonde. "Ojou-sama, your grandfather is in the car. I suggest that you don't let him wait any longer."

She narrowed her eyes for a split second, "Very well, please lead the way, Yamada-san." She smiled politely at the driver, who only grimaced at her expression.

_Why would he come find me now? It has only been a few days since he last told me to move out of one of the main houses._

_Unless.. _Shizuru felt a cold chill,_ he intends to make me to marry one of the shareholders?! No, no, no, no. If he tries to make me marry one of the share holders, I'll move out and hide in a farm for the rest of my life._

_What is with Yamada? He is insistent on calling him 'grandfather' instead of 'zachou', we both know he doesn't think of me that way.'_

_Unless...the old man told him to..._

Shizuru frowned, having a good idea on what the senior Fujino wanted from her.

"Good luck, Ojou-sama." Her driver opened the back of the limo, waiting for Shizuru to get in.

Shizuru mentally scoffed, noting that luck has nothing to do with reality. Everything in life had to do with information and planning. If only she knew what her grandfather was planning.

* * *

"Good afternoon, Zachou," Shizuru smiled politely at the senior, staring straight into his eyes as the car began to move.

The old man smiled warmly at her, his smile reaching his eyes. "Good afternoon, Shi-chan. Call me oojii-san."

_Shi-chan?_

Shizuru paled and frowned for a split second, stiffening in the leather seat.

_Just as I expected, has he gone senile and is now deluded to think that I am his daughter?_

_...no wait, he wouldn't otherwise tell me to call him oojii-san._

Nevertheless, Shizuru covered up her exasperation and smiled,"Yes, Oojii-sama."

"Good girl." He reached forward to pat Shizuru on the head. She flinched and stiffened in surprise.

Apparently her discomfort was too obvious so he gave her an apologetic look.

"I've only wanted the best for you, Shi-chan. Look at how independent you are, look at the power you radiate, I'm so proud of you."

Shizuru could only gape in shock, incredulous and angry.

_He only wanted the best for me? He has hit me when I was young, he separated me from my peers, threatened Haruka's family, he replaced my maids on a monthly basis, he has never allowed me to trust, and he has never allowed me to love, or be loved. He has never tried to know me, now he says he's proud of me?_

_How could you be proud of a broken person?_

Despite her inner turmoil, she kept a blank face, convinced that the old man is attempting to get a reaction out of her.

"Thank you, oojii-sama."

Briefly wondering if she imagined his warm smile, she watched him pat her leg. "Good girl, now let's go have dinner together."

* * *

Natsuki was walking back to her apartment when her cell phone rang a familiar tune. She picked up her call in excitement.

"Otou-san!" Natsuki said happily into the phone. It had been a while since she last talked to her step-father. They haven't seen each other since the day she moved out.

"_How have you been Natsuki-chan?"_ The deep voice cooed through the phone.

"Ew, otou-san don't call me that!" She face palmed her heating face.

Her father chuckled, _"But Natsuki-chan, I missed you so much! Why haven't you visited me for the past week?"_ he demanded.

"Otou-san, don't try and trick me, I know you were overseas on a business meeting."

"_Busted! My sweet Natsuki is so smart."_

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, shut up."

"_You hurt my feelings, I only speak the truth."_

"Ah huh. Now, why did you call me instead of visiting me?"

She could almost hear him pout through the phone_, "Can't your old man call you without any ulterior motives? I just miss you!"_

"I missed you too, otou-san," she replied softly.

"_And well, your sister has been nagging me every day, crying about how her older sister abandoned her – "_

"So you only called me because Alyssa told you to?!"

"_No! Natsuki-chan,"_ he laughed,_" I called you because I'm in front of your apartment complex waiting for you."_

Natsuki stopped walking, "You are?" she whispered uncertainly.

"_Yep. I thought we could have dinner together. Your mother won't be there, I promise. "_

She ran back to her apartment.

* * *

After a long hug from her father, they walked to the nearby mall.

"This restaurant is amazing," her father enthusiastically told her as they crossed the street, "It's in the mall. They somehow built an indoor waterfall, and there is this cute little pond full of little gold fish – "

Natsuki rolled her eyes, "Otou-san, I thought the point of a restaurant is to eat...why would anyone care if they have waterfalls – "

Her father continued as if uninterrupted, "They also have this amazing mayonnaise selection – "

"Are you serious?!" Her head whipped around to look at him while her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Natsuki-chan," he looked at her sympathetically, "we don't have to go if you really don't want to see the waterfall."

Natsuki sniffed, "No! Otou-san, I really want to see the waterfall."

"If you say so," he sang while his daughter glared at him.

* * *

The two of them stood outside the closed restaurant staring at the paper sign in disappointment.

"Completely booked out..." The blonde, middle aged man looked crestfallen at the paper sign.

Natsuki chewed her bottom lip in disappointment; she was really looking forward to the mayonnaise selection.

He stubbornly looked through the mirror glass window, placing his face right against the glass."There are only two people in there! How can it be completely booked out?"

Natsuki flushed, dragging her father off the glass. "Otou-san, don't do that. It's rude and embarrassing!"

"We'll see after I buy the entire restaurant!" he huffed loudly in disappointment, "Let's go, Natsuki-chan."

She rolled her eyes at her father's childish antics.

* * *

At the supermarket, Shizuru was convinced she needed a lot of 'tea therapy' after the dinner with her 'grandfather'. She looked at the shelf, looking at various tea boxes. As she picked out a lavender infused green tea, she reflected on the earlier conversation over dinner.

Surprisingly over the last ten years, she had never had dinner with her grandfather. Needless to say, dinner was confusing and stressful.

"_Shi-chan, how has school been?"_

_She mentally cringed at the nickname._

_They were in a really expensive traditional Japanese restaurant, both of them sitting opposite each other in a kneeling position. The restaurant was in one of the malls they owned, so the entire restaurant was booked for the occasion. Shizuru looked at him warily._

"_It's been rather well. I'm now class representative, and I am top ranked in my year for my studies."_

_She felt slightly sick at the need to impress._

_Why must his opinion mean so much to her?_

_To Shizuru's astonishment, he smiled, "I'm proud of you. You are worthy of being my heir...however_..._ "_

_Shizuru wasn't surprised there would be a catch, but it was still disappointing._

"_...I need you to start managing the company, and you will be in charge of the team leading the new project. We're looking to work with another corporation and I need you there. You will be paid of course. Yamada will be your assistant or you can pick another."_

_The blonde stared in astonishment. The senior only smiled and resumed eating his dinner._

"_Do you have my contract with you?" Shizuru asked carefully, not wanting to offend the man. If he wanted her to work with her, there must be some kind of contract. She mentally hoped that it wasn't a marriage contract._

_She gripped in fear when she saw him frown, expecting another slap. He placed down his chopsticks before slowly wiping his mouth with a serviette._

_The last thing she was expecting was the teasing tone from her grandfather._

"_We're family, why on earth would we need a contract?"_

* * *

After dinner with her father, Natsuki went straight to the supermarket. As she didn't get her mayonnaise selection, Natsuki was determined to buy a few bottles of mayonnaise to feel make herself feel better. She picked up a basket, shopping for the first time since the incident with Murasaki. She couldn't beg Mai to shop for her, the girl refused to talk unless she and Nao stopped fighting.

While thinking of school, she remembered that she was supposed to eat lunch with Shizuru tomorrow.

_Did she really want to eat with me tomorrow?_

_...Or was it just a slip of the tongue?_

_Most people say 'see you tomorrow' as a habit, maybe she said 'see you at _lunch _tomorrow' by accident?_ she grimaced, feeling insecure, _or did I imagine the word 'lunch'?_

_I mean, why would she even want to eat with me?_

As she walked into one of the aisles, she saw the familiar dark blonde hair and froze. She quickly ran back to hide behind the shelf, peering from behind.

_You have got to be kidding me! What is she doing here?!_ She watched curiously as the girl stared at a box of tea with a blank expression.

_Should I go say hello?_

_I swear, this is the third time I've bumped into her today!_

_...But, didn't she accuse me of stalking her during P.E?_

_She's probably freaked out by me, _Natsuki thought miserably.

_...I'll just come back later so I don't get accused of stalking. Hopefully, she'll be gone by then._

Natsuki turned and shopped at another aisle for another ten minutes, before walking back to the original aisle.

She was surprised that Shizuru was still in the same position: staring at a box of tea.

_She must seriously love her tea_, she mused.

Then Natsuki caught the look of anguish on Shizuru's face. It was full of anger, sorrow and loneliness – emotions that Natsuki was very familiar with. Natsuki then realised, the girl was distracted by her own thoughts for the past ten minutes, and it had nothing to do with the tea.

The girl was desperately trying to hold herself together while holding a box of tea.

She made up her mind and walked into the aisle.

* * *

_Family? Don't make me laugh._

_Since when were we ever family?_

_The old man never loved me, he never allowed me to love anybody, including himself._

_How dare he say we're family?_

Shizuru tightened her hold on the box of tea, gripping it with anger.

"Shizuru?" a low voice broke her thoughts and she dropped the box from fright.

She turned around to the familiar voice, blinking to see bright green eyes boring into her own.

The dark-haired girl averted her eyes, biting her lower lip looking ashamed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay? You just looked...upset."

Completely being caught off guard at her weakest moment, she didn't have the strength or time to compose her façade.

"I..." She looked into the worried eyes, and found herself speechless, unable to lie. Feeling a strong surge of anxiety, she looked down.

Natsuki stared at her in concern, then her eyes furrowed with conviction. "Say no more, we're going to an arcade, come on." Shizuru found herself to be dragged out of the supermarket.

"To a _what_? W-wait Natsu – "

Then she stopped abruptly causing Shizuru to accidentally bump into her, "Oh wait, sorry, you wanted the tea right?" Before she could formulate a response, Shizuru could only watch, speechless, as the girl grab a box of each flavour and walk straight to the check-out area.

Later outside the supermarket, she found herself carrying two large plastic bags, filled with around twenty boxes of tea.

"Natsuki!" Shizuru said with astonishment, finally gathering her wits, mentally scolding herself for losing control. "You- You didn't have to get me all this tea!" She was surprised how she let the younger girl drag her around the supermarket.

_Where on earth are my body guards? Normally if a maid or person dared to do that, they would instantly be dragged off!_

Natsuki looked unimpressed, with a raised brow, "Yes, I did. You stared at that one box of tea for like, ten minutes! You obviously really wanted that box of tea. Just think of it as an early Christmas present or something," she stated bluntly and shrugged indifferently with a pink tinge colouring her cheeks.

_Christmas present?_

Shizuru felt strangely emotional, she swallowed down the lump in her throat before remembering,

_Nobody has ever given me a Christmas present since ..._

Seeing Natsuki's curious expression, she quickly composed herself, "Ara, you stared at me for ten minutes?"

She felt oddly relieved when she watched the girl's face flush to a bright shade of red.

"N-no! I was just– " Her stuttering only to be stopped by the older girl giggling.

"Shizuru!" Natsuki scolded, looking very indignant from the teasing, but her glare softened at her laughing. "Give me one of those bags, I'll carry half for you." She took one of the bags before Shizuru could utter a response, "Anyways, let's go to the arcade." She glanced at her, and Shizuru found herself to be dragged across the road.

Shizuru looked down at the hand on her arm, noticing the warmth.

She was led down stairs from a restaurant, and was surprised to see many machines lined up in the building, with many kids running about.

Everything felt out of control.

"Wait...Natsuki."

"Hmm?" Not looking at Shizuru, Natsuki took out her arcade V.I.P card from her wallet with one hand, and gave it to the cashier. "The usual please... " she told the cashier, then hesitated, "actually put an extra hundred on it," she told the cashier, who stared at Shizuru suspiciously.

"Why are you doing this?" Shizuru asked softly, looking away, briefly aware Natsuki's hand is still on her arm.

Natsuki turned around to look at Shizuru, her bright green eyes furrowed in confusion, "Why not? You're upset."

Shizuru felt a stab of annoyance, why was this girl so dense? Who did she think she was? They only just met today, and she randomly popped up in the supermarket then dragged her into an arcade. Her fan girls don't even dare to touch her, let alone drag her arm around the supermarket.

"Do you do this for everybody? Buy them twenty boxes of tea? Despite only meeting you today, you shouldn't trust strangers – "

"Not really."

She looked at her in shock for being rudely interrupted, watching the defiance in those eyes when Natsuki glanced towards her, "What are you– "

"We're not really strangers," Natsuki stubbornly interrupted again, taking the card from the cashier. Then she glanced at her shyly before averting her eyes again, "We've met before. You can only be strangers if you don't really know the other person."

Shizuru felt a surge of anger at the stubborn girl, "We hardly know each other. We've only met this afternoon during lunch break– "

"More than twice," the girl interrupted again.

Shizuru stared at the girl, silently demanding an answer.

Natsuki gazed back, gently tugging on Shizuru's arm, leading them to a machine, "Come on, this way– we've met more than twice, Shizuru. We've met in that same super market, I swear we keep bumping into each other. Even at that cafe– "

Shizuru stopped frozen. "You knew?" she blurted out in a panic, horrified.

_She'll think I was stalking her!_

To Shizuru's surprise, the girl looked away with ears abnormally red, "W–well... I'm sorry! I swear I wasn't looking or stalking you or anything– " the younger girl stammered, "I thought you knew! Isn't that what you tried to ask me during lunch and P.E– "

Shizuru felt a surge of relief and laughed, cutting off the younger girl's hysteric explanation, "Natsuki, I was the one who saw you in a cafe, how does that make you a stalker?" Her eyes twinkling with amusement.

_This girl has the weirdest logic._

"Well, during lunch last week– " Then she quickly covered her mouth in shock, rosy pink spreading across her cheeks.

The older girl curiously raised an eyebrow, "Lunch...?"

"Um... oh! Let's play this one." Natsuki eagerly dragged her to a machine.

Shizuru looked at her bemused, noticing how eager the girl was trying to change the topic. She was too emotionally drained to ask further, so she shook her head and smiled.

She looked at the machine; it was a stand with a small black bag attached to it. Shizuru mentally argued with herself, whether or not she should make up an excuse to get out of this arcade.

"Okay, at the supermarket you looked like you needed this. My dad used to bring me here when I was annoyed at my mother." Natsuki said, while Shizuru stared at her curiously. Natsuki inserted her V.I.P arcade card into the machine slot. She placed down the bag full of tea and looked at Shizuru.

Shizuru stilled, _if my father was still alive...would he bring me here?_

"Okay, now go for it."

Shizuru only stared at the black weathered bag in confusion, unsure of what she's supposed to do. "The bag is...tiny," she commented.

"Yeah, well it's an arcade," Natsuki crossed her arms and looked at her impatiently.

After a brief moment of silence, Shizuru blushed and pursed her lips, "I apologize, I've never been to an arcade – "

"You what?!" Natsuki eyes widened, mouth agape, looking at her in disbelief. After a brief silence, "Okay, give me that," She reached forward and took Shizuru's other bag of tea and placed it on the ground, ignoring her protests. "Now your hands are free, I want you to go punch that bag."

Shizuru couldn't help but notice the cold when Natsuki's hand left her arm.

"But why?" Shizuru grimaced; she thought the bag looked oily and gross.

Natsuki shrugged, "It feels good. Just pretend it's somebody's face. You got to let those feelings out, or they'll eat you from the inside."

Shizuru frowned, feeling exposed and not liking what Natsuki was insinuating, "That's oddly...violent."

Natsuki pursed her lips in annoyance, "You get points. The higher your points are, your name goes on the ranking board. You see here?" She pointed at the LCD screen on the wall, "My name is the first one on the wall," she said smugly, "the more points you get, you can exchange for a prize."

Shizuru looked at the screen and burst out laughing, "You called yourself the _ice princess_?!"

The girl flushed in embarrassment, "Stop laughing! That's because these guys keep stalking me and calling me the 'ice princess', this place is pretty popular on weekends, if they see this wall they might just leave me alone– " she grumbled, arms crossed.

Shizuru stared in shock and amazement; this was something she would never do. To willingly, to publicly ruin her own name to get rid of some stalkers. She wasn't allowed to ruin the Fujino reputation. In fact, if her fan girls saw her name as number one, Shizuru was sure they would all run away in fright.

Shizuru looked at the younger girl, surprised that the girl was in different attire, a light blue tank top with short beige cotton shorts, a different style to the dress she wore last week.

_She dresses elegantly on some days, and dresses like a comfortable slob the next day._

_This girl is really..._

"You don't act like an ice princess."

Natsuki looked surprised, gazing at Shizuru's face searchingly, before the edges of her lips curved up slightly. She quickly looked away and grumbled.

"Thanks."

Shizuru smiled, aware of how much those words meant to the younger girl. No girl would want to be called cold and unapproachable, no matter how true it might be. However, she was pretty sure that being number one in a punching contest will only emphasize her 'ice princess' reputation. But then again, Natsuki always seemed to think differently, especially with her weird logic.

"You're welcome, Natsuki," Shizuru said cheerfully, noticing the blush on the girl's cheeks.

The younger girl gave her a sincere smile, and Shizuru couldn't help herself but say, "I believe ice princess is not the correct terminology, you are named 'Na-tsuki', and seeing how cute and warm you are, I'm pretty sure you are a summer princess – "

"S–Shut up! Just hit the bag already!"

* * *

Ten minutes later, 'SummerPrincess' was ranked first on the wall in English, and Shizuru was enjoying the permanent blush on Natsuki's indignant expression.

"Why would you call yourself – ugh! Never mind!" Natsuki face palmed, covering her flush in embarrassment.

Shizuru giggled, "Well, if Natsuki's stalkers don't understand the 'ice princess' reference, they'll definitely know summer princess."

She laughed again when Natsuki attempted to glare with a blushing face.

"That was surprisingly...therapeutic." Shizuru admitted.

"Was that really your first time?" Natsuki asked incredulously, staring at the LCD screen. She recollected herself from the shock and started dragging Shizuru to a racing car machine, "This one next, you'll go against me."

Shizuru frowned, "Another one? Wasn't that one enough?"

Natsuki looked at her incredulously, "You punched that bag, as if you were eating sushi from lunch."

Shizuru raised an eyebrow, confused. How was punching a bag anything like eating sushi?

Sensing her confusion, the younger girl pursed her lips, explaining further: "You eat like the model student," she mumbled reluctantly.

"Ara! Natsuki is saying I punch elegantly?" She smiled.

The younger girl gave a 'hmmph' with a pink tinge on her face, crossing her arms, "You're not relaxing at all."

Shizuru blinked several times, feeling anxious. She felt exposed, and it made her want to leave as soon as possible.

"I...should go. It's getting pretty late."

She looked at the younger girl, unable to remove her eyes from the intense gaze. She saw the flash of disappointment and hurt across her emerald eyes. It only made Shizuru feel worse, knowing that she's the one who put that there.

"Natsuki – "

The girl shrugged indifferently, "Its fine," she gave her a small smile, before giving a brief glance and then shyly averting her eyes. "Just uh...think of this as thanks, for you know–"she gave a small cough and blushed, "–saving me from that annoying man."

Shizuru felt warmth spread in her chest, slightly regretting her impulsive decision to leave early.

"You're welcome. You didn't have to do this; we hardly know each other –"

Natsuki held up a hand, interrupting Shizuru from saying anything futher, "I've had fun. We'll come here again, you're good competition." The younger girl smiled at her. "We're not strangers, Shizuru."

* * *

Natsuki stared LCD screen after Shizuru had left, astonished that somebody else managed to defeat her legendary score. She didn't know which was worse, beating her score, or Shizuru naming first place as 'SummerPrincess'. She sighed and shrugged, recovering from her embarrassment.

As she turned to leave the arcade, she frowned when she noticed two bags on the floor next to the punching machine.

_Oh great, she forgot the tea._

Natsuki picked it up and thought she might as well give it to her tomorrow. Then a thought occurred to her.

She face palmed realizing that she forgot to ask whether they had lunch together tomorrow.

* * *

Early in the morning before class, Natsuki was busy stuffing one bag of tea into her locker. As soon as it closed, a hand rudely slammed onto the surface of her locker.

"What the – " She turned to face the rude intruder, flinching to see familiar violet eyes glaring into her own.

"You!" the girl with azure coloured hair snarled to her face, arms crossed with a group of girls behind her. They were all collectively glaring at her.

Natsuki stood wide eyed with fright. The violet eyes were strangely nostalgic. She was sure she had seen them somewhere during her childhood years. After a brief second, she recollected her wits and took one step back. The other girl took it as a sign of weakness and smirked.

"Who the heck are you?" Natsuki stated bluntly.

The girl's smirk faded and flushed an angry red and face palmed, "I'm in your class! In fact, I've been in your class for five years, you dim wit – but that's not the point!"

"Then what is?" She raised an eyebrow, unimpressed with the threats. Natsuki had no idea what this girl wanted from her, in fact she didn't even know this girl was from in her class.

"Stay away from Fujino onee-sama!"

Natsuki stared at her in silence, and in utmost confusion. The name sounded familiar but she still had no idea who she was talking about. Natsuki briefly thought that maybe Mai had mentioned that name, but she wasn't sure. She reasoned that if she agreed, the rude girl will leave her alone.

"Okay," Natsuki said.

The girls looked at her sceptically, waiting for her to continue.

Natsuki frowned and sighed, realising she had to elaborate, "I will stay away from Bujino-san – "

"Fujino!" the girl shouted, and the girls behind her looked horrified at Natsuki. "Her name is _Fujino onee-sama_!"

Natsuki rolled her eyes, it wasn't her fault. She had yet to meet this Fujino person. Hundreds of blind dates have rendered her ability to remember names useless.

"Look," she said, her temper finally snapped, "I don't know you and I have no idea who you're talking about. I have to go to class so leave me alone."

"Don't lie!" the girl shouted, alarming most of the students in the corridor, "I saw you yesterday – "

"What is going on?" A person interrupted and stood between Natsuki and the shouting girl.

"Go away, Masashi! This is none of your business!"

Natsuki had never been so thankful to see Takeda.

"Maruguritto-san, you are threatening my girlfriend over some trivial matter," Takeda hissed somewhat politely, "so of course, it is my business."

Natsuki rolled her eyes and changed her mind; she could have handled this situation just fine by herself.

"Girlfriend, huh?" Maruguritto said sceptically, but seemed to calm down from her outburst. She smirked, "This is rather...surprising – "

"And none of your business – " he interrupted quickly.

"Does he know?" she interrupted him in a sweet and quiet voice.

Natsuki's eyes widened in surprise as Takeda stiffened. This girl either knew about his preferences, or was talking about a man who made Takeda very uncomfortable. However, Natsuki had no idea who the girl was talking about.

"A-Again, that is none of your business – " Takeda said rather weakly, and Natsuki wasn't sure if they were on topic any more.

The girl in front smirked and Natsuki's temper flared. She reached forward, grabbed Takeda's hand and pulled him behind her.

"Oooh, now the girlfriend is protecting the boyfriend!" she mocked, but Natsuki was too angry to care. The rude girl just bullied one of her best friends.

Natsuki thought about beating her up. But she didn't want to face suspension so early in the morning. Plus, she had a bag of tea in her locker and she was supposed to have lunch with Shizuru today.

Instead, she threw her an icy glare worthy of dropping a few degrees in the room. Pointed a rude gesture and walked off indifferently holding Takeda's hand.

She smiled in satisfaction when she heard the girl spluttering angrily behind her.

But, Natsuki wasn't one to leave without having the last word. The fourteen year old childishly turned around and shouted:

"I'm still going to talk to Bujino-san!"

* * *

Takeda was strangely quiet while walking to the classroom, Natsuki couldn't blame him, Maruguritto almost out'ed him in the corridor. He held tightly to Natsuki's hand and she gripped back in comfort.

"Who is Bujino-san?" Takeda asked after a while. "Maruguritto looked angry."

She had a feeling she got the name wrong again.

Natsuki shrugged, "I'm not sure, it sounds kind of familiar."

She opened the classroom doors to apologetic lime green eyes staring at her.

"Natsuki," Nao started, "I'm really – " she stopped when her eyes glanced down to see the adjoined hands.

Natsuki quickly let go of Takeda.

Nao narrowed her eyes and glared murderously at Takeda. "Never mind," she said, and walked back to her desk.

* * *

Shizuru compromised with herself that if she let them visit her during morning break, they might just leave her alone during lunch break.

"So you just use this formula here – " she said as she taught half of the group of fan girls. The other half of the group were working on their own set of problems.

They also seem to be complaining rather passionately about one girl in their class. Shizuru was impressed that they were tactful enough not to mention a name.

Or perhaps they just didn't want her to know.

"...stupid ice princess, I don't even know why they call..." Tomoe whispered furiously to the other girls.

Shizuru struggled not to raise her eyebrows, and kept her face blank.

_Are they talking about Natsuki?_

Her curiosity peaked when she heard the reference. She remembered that Natsuki had stalkers who called her 'ice princess'. She listened carefully to Tomoe while flipping slowly through the text book.

"...her stupid boyfriend!" Tomoe said, while the other girls nodded in agreement.

Shizuru's hand stopped flipping through the pages. She suddenly felt uncomfortable, and confused. She realised that they were probably talking about the boy she saw in the cafe.

_Ara, well that answers the question from yesterday...he really was her boyfriend._

"Onee-sama?" one of the girls said in concern.

Shizuru realised that she had not moved for the last few minutes, she saw her hands shaking and quickly clenched together them to stop.

"Onee-sama, are you alright?" Tomoe asked, looking at her carefully.

She abruptly stood up, and looked at the group of girls. She quickly gave them a polite smile and told them she had class representative work to do, and had to go to the teacher's office.

She barely remembered what they replied as she walked out of the classroom in a daze.

Shizuru found herself inside the empty bathroom staring at her own reflection.

When her grandfather affectionately called her 'Shi-chan', it completely threw off her emotions– but she was still able to compose the perfect mask.

She had spent many evenings in the past ten years, staring at her own reflection, perfecting her smile, perfecting her image. It was an easy thing to do, since she was always taught to never show any emotion. It was easy, considering she never had any emotions.

But for once in her life she was finding it very difficult. She stared at her own reflection, seeing the inner turmoil in her eyes.

She had never felt so confused.


End file.
